{"id":286,"date":"2014-07-23T17:43:12","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T21:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project-011.com\/?page_id=286"},"modified":"2015-01-25T09:49:15","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T13:49:15","slug":"flood-insurance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/project-011.com\/?page_id=286","title":{"rendered":"Flood Insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Flood<\/a>Flood Insurance for Home and Business<\/h1>\n

Flood insurance might be needed more than you imagine.\u00a0 Flooding is both the number one disaster we face in this country and it is the most expensive natural disaster in the United States.\u00a0 Neither home and business insurance policies include coverage for flood events.\u00a0 What’s more, total flood insurance claims during the last ten years have averaged nearly $4 Billion each year.\u00a0 Fortunately, we do not live in coastal areas that have a one in four chance of a flood in any year.\u00a0 Nevertheless, there plenty of flood prone areas in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana including in neighborhoods near where you live.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest reasons flood insurance claims remain persistently high is that for years building codes did not discourage construction of homes or commercial property in flood prone areas.\u00a0 This includes coastal areas where billions of dollars of property damage are done solely because people have built closer and closer to the water.\u00a0 The same goes for the attraction of inland rivers, lakes, and streams where the views are fantastic but the risk to property is substantial.\u00a0 The source of flood water isn’t always obvious.\u00a0 By definition a flood is surface water that aggregates on normally dry land because it is unable to easily move away from structures as it might otherwise.\u00a0 This occurs when rain falls at high rates, when water is driven by wind and piled up on land where houses and buildings are built (often referred to as the “storm surge”), and by unusually rapid winter snow melt that causes ice and water to back up onto land that is normally dry.\u00a0 The Federal Emergency Management Agency defines flood in the following specific way:<\/p>\n