Since standard home insurance doesn't cover flooding, it's important to have coverage from floods associated with hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rains and other conditions that impact the U.S.
In 1968, Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to help provide a means for property owners to financially help protect themselves. The NFIP offers flood insurance to homeowners, renters, and business owners if their community participates in the NFIP. Participating communities agree to adopt and enforce ordinances that meet or exceed FEMA requirements to reduce the risk of flooding. Find out more about the NFIP and how it can help protect yourself.
Flood insurance helps protect two types of insurable property: building and contents. The first covers your building, the latter covers your possessions; neither covers the land they occupy.
The two most common reimbursement methods for flood claims are: Replacement Cost Value (RCV) and Actual Cash Value (ACV). RCV is the cost to replace damaged property. It is reimbursable to owners of single-family, primary residences insured to within 80% of the buildings replacement cost.
All other buildings and personal property (i.e. contents) are valued at ACV, which is the RCV at the time of loss, minus physical depreciation. Personal property is always valued using ACV.
Content provided by FloodSmart.gov