Flood Facts

In the past 5 years, all 50 states have experienced floods or flash floods.
Everyone lives in a flood zone. (For more information, visit FloodSmart.gov’s Flood Zones FAQs.)
Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
If you live in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or high-risk area and have a Federally backed mortgage, your mortgage lender requires you to have flood insurance. (To find your flood risk, fill out the Flood Risk Profile.)
Just a few inches of floodwater can cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
Flash floods often bring walls of water 10 to 15 feet high.
A car can be easily carried away by just 2 feet of rushing water.
Hurricanes, winter storms and snowmelt are common (but often overlooked) causes of flooding.
New land development can increase flood risk, especially if the construction changes natural runoff paths.
Federal disaster assistance is usually a loan that must be paid back with interest. For a $50,000 loan at 4% interest, your monthly payment would be around $240 a month ($2,880 a year) for 30 years. Compare that to a $100,000 flood insurance premium, which is about $400 a year ($33 a month).
A Preferred Risk Policy provides both building and contents coverage for properties in moderate- to low-risk areas for one low price.
You are eligible to purchase flood insurance as long as your community participates in the National Flood Insurance Program. Check the Community Status Book to see if your community is already an NFIP partner.
In most cases, it takes 30 days after purchase for a policy to take effect, so it’s important to buy insurance before the storm approaches and the floodwaters start to rise.
In a high-risk area, your home is more likely to be damaged by flood than by fire.
Even though flood insurance isn’t federally required, anyone can be financially vulnerable to floods. In fact, people outside of mapped high-risk flood areas file more than 20 percent of all National Flood Insurance Program flood insurance claims and receive one-third of Federal disaster assistance for flooding.
From 2006 to 2015, total flood insurance claims averaged $1.9 billion per year.
When your community participates in the Community Rating System (CRS), you can qualify for an insurance premium reduction discount of up to 45 percent if you live in a high-risk area and up to 10 percent in moderate- to low-risk areas.
Since 1978, the NFIP has paid nearly $52 billion for flood insurance claims and related costs. (Data as of 2/25/16.)
There are currently more than 5.1 million Policies in Force across more than 22,000 communities in the United States.
The two most common reimbursement methods for flood claims are: Replacement Cost Value (RCV) and Actual Cash Value (ACV). The RCV is the cost to replace damaged property. It is reimbursable to owners of single-family, primary residences insured to at least 80% of the building’s replacement cost.