Read your homeowner's policy - you don't have homeowner's insurance -

[hedgehog]

what you have is insurance on your dwelling for damage caused by specific sources - ie fire, wind, vandalism, broken pipes, etc. You may or may not have protection against flooding by salt water or fresh water. You may have protection against water that falls from the sky (leaky roof) but not water that has hit the ground already (rising creek) or that's too heavy (roof collapse from snow load). Read your policy, call your agent , and add the riders you need!

I saw a photo on Facebook complaining that Allstate paid only $186 for a house heavily damaged from a Sandi storm surge.


BTW - I'd love to know if that one company really does cover against damage from wild animals nesting in the attic!

[ProdigalJunkMail]

1. it has been this way pretty much forever...

insurance against occurrences.

sP

[Turbineguy]

2. My insurance

specifically tells me I do not have flood insurance. It's not hidden somewhere in the fine print.

[hobbit709]

3. If you don't have flood insurance you're SOL in a low lying area.

House insurance won't pay flood damage. you need flood insurance and hurricane insurance if you live on the coast.

I don't have flood insurance on my house but if my house flooded, 90% of Austin would be underwater.

[avebury]

5. Agreed. Flood, hurricane, earthquate insurance

is different from hone owners insurance. Most home owners don't need all three forms of additional insurance. Think of it as home owner's insurance as basic coverage and the other three as upgrades. You buy what you need depending upon where you live.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Read my sig line.

.

[SheilaT]

6. Reading things like insurance policies all the way through is

a very good policy. Really.

Often, you either cannot got insurance for things that are most likely to happen, like flooding if you're in a flood zone, earthquakes in parts of California, or that insurance is very very expensive.

[hedgehog]

7. You pays your money and you takes your pick -

unless you don't have any money! Maybe it's time to take a good look at this and federalize insurance for some regions for wild fire, earthquake, flooding etc. Set some reasonable design requirements first. But when disaster hits an entire region, we would all be better off if those people are made whole ASAP.

[Live and Learn]

8. +1 nt

[Blue_In_AK]

9. I'm quite fond of my State Farm agent, who explained all this to us in great detail.

He's a good Democrat. We got the earthquake coverage only as we're not in a flood zone.