When Does Your Insurance Cover a Flood?

2/3/2022 (Permalink)

Make sure your flood insurance is up to date.

Experiencing a disaster at home can be devastating. Flooding is one of the most common and damaging incidents that homeowners come across. There are some cases where your homeowner’s insurance will cover the damage of a basement flood and other water damage. Other situations require that you turn to secondary flood insurance to file a claim.

What Your Homeowner’s Insurance Covers

You purchase homeowner’s insurance to help you when an accidental damage occurs on your home and property. This applies to a flooded house as well. If there is sudden, unintentional water damage, your insurance should step in and help with repair and replacement costs. Some examples include:

• A broken pipe
• A failed appliance such as a dishwasher or water heater that expels water onto the floors or walls
• A leaky roof that lets rainwater into the attic

What Your Homeowner’s Policy Doesn’t Cover

Traditional insurance coverage won’t take care of all your water damage. If you fail to properly maintain appliances and other systems in your home, the insurance company won’t likely pay to repair the damage. If you intentionally cause flooding on your property, it will void any insurance protection, and you may face legal issues. Also, your policy will not cover the cause of the water damage, just the results. For example, if your refrigerator breaks and leaks water down the wall, ruining the drywall, your insurance will pay to replace the wall but not the fridge.

When To Get Flood Insurance

You can get supplemental flood coverage to take care of water damage from issues such as sewer backups or main water line breaks. If you live in an area where a basement flood would be common because of severe storms or overflowing rivers or canals, you should consider purchasing flood insurance.

When you’ve got a basement flood or other damage, its nice to know you can call a professional flood remediation team. SERVPRO OF SOUTH KENOSHA is always here to help. Give us a call 262-332-7044.