With the constant coverage and warnings of the approaching El Niño season, homeowners and condominium association boards of directors are wondering what can be done to protect against the impending deluge. The first step is to make sure all of your property maintenance responsibilities are up to date. If you have been putting off a roofing project or other exterior maintenance, you might want to consider getting it done sooner rather than later.

Folks also want to know if there is a way to insure for the damage they could sustain as a result of heavy rain. Or, more specifically, because there is an expectation of a flood on Noah’s scale, will a homeowner or condominium community’s purchase of flood insurance be helpful? Well, actually, potentially yes.

I have heard many times, “We are not in a flood zone, so we don’t need flood insurance.” But, this is a misstatement. In reality, every property is in a flood zone. Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) are mapped by the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA). There are zones that require the purchase of flood insurance and those that do not. If flood insurance is required, you probably already have it. Lenders would be sure to inform you of the missing coverage and would make it a requirement of a loan. So, really we are looking at properties that are mapped in a zone that does not require the coverage.

The most commonly purchased policy is provided by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The program defines a flood as a “general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property).” The NFIP doesn’t leave it to that, but continues by defining what sources can cause this general and temporary condition. These include:
• Overflow of inland or tidal waters – Do you live on an estuary or lagoon? Water may rise higher than normal, overflowing into your property and causing damage.
• Unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff of surface water from any source –heavy rain resulting in a storm drain backup or making the street act like a riverbed.
• Mudflow – Not landslide, but a “river of liquid and flowing mud on the surfaces of normally dry land areas…” Water accumulating on the surface of dry land will flow downhill. As if flows, it collects soil. The heavier the rain, the more water flowing. The steeper the terrain, the faster the water flows. The more sparse the terrain (think land bare due to wildfires) the more soil to pick up. All of this together can turn into a river of fast-flowing mud.
• Collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water – This applies if lake level rises and wave action or currents erode shoreline that is typically above cyclical levels.

Flood insurance isn’t just about an established stream bed, flood plains and breached levees. If your home or condominium association is located in a place where you can imagine the scenarios above, you may benefit from flood insurance.

Terri Guest is the Northern California Sales & Marketing Representative for Berg Insurance Company and can be reached at Terri@berginsurance.com. Have an insurance question? Ask Terri and your question may be the subject of next month’s edition of Coverage Corner! If your question is picked, you will win a Starbucks gift card!