If you live in a flood zone, then your home is at risk of damage. That’s why you likely have flood insurance. However, just because you have coverage, doesn’t mean you want to lose everything in a flood. Most people try to protect their property and belongings if flooding threatens. How can that help
you when it comes to your insurance risks?
With protective measures, you can keep the risks of personal property damage low. Your flood insurance might prove even more of a benefit in these situations.
The Cost Benefit of Preventing Possession Damage
In most cases, flood insurance will cover possessions damaged by floodwaters. However, all policies have restrictions and limits.
Most National Flood Insurance policies place a $100,000 limit on contents coverage for residential properties. If you have contents losses above $100,000, then you might have to pay remaining costs after your policy pays to its limits.
These policies also usually only provide coverage for lost items’ actual cash value. They will only pay an item’s value at the time of the loss. So, if the item’s value has depreciated, then you won’t recover its full replacement value. That could make you have to pay more out of pocket to refurbish your home.
The more you do to protect belongings from flood waters, the lower the risk you’ll have to make a large claim on your flood policy. You might have a better chance of covering the full losses you might experience.
Protecting Belongings from Floods
If you have a flood threat, you might need to evacuate. However, you can’t take everything with you. Therefore, you should gather important items and move other contents out of harm’s way.
- Take important items with you. Things like insurance policies, photo IDs, important papers, photos and mementos should go with you. Do not leave your pets in the home, either.
- Remove all perishable items from the home.
- Elevation is the key when it comes to flooding. At minimum, stack items on top of each other to get them above the water line. In the best cases, you should move items on the ground floor to an upper floor of the home.
- Place small possessions inside airtight containers. Seal these and either take them with you or place them in a high location.
- Some of the most important items to protect are items that could become saturated. Things like cushions or linens should not stay in the open. Place them in high locations or sealed containers.
The more items you can get out of harm’s way, the less damage you might find when flood waters recede.
Also Read: Protecting Your Family Before and After Flooding