Peak Hurricane Season is Here

The height of the 2011 Hurricane Season is here, which means a significant risk of flooding in both coastal communities and those far inland as well. In fact, some of the worst damage from recent hurricanes occurred hundreds or even thousands of miles from the coast—as far as New York state due to Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and through much of the Midwest and into Pennsylvania because of Hurricane Ike in 2008. While your customers may not be aware of the risk until your community is threatened with an impending storm, they need to know now that there is typically a 30-day waiting period for a flood insurance policy to take effect.

Encourage your customers to get covered now. Let them know that flood insurance is more affordable than they may think. The average flood insurance policy is around $579 a year and in moderate-to-low-risk areas, Preferred Risk Policies start as low as $129 a year.

Costly Consequences

Eight of the top ten most expensive federally declared disasters were caused by hurricanes. Just a few inches of water can cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage and last year, the average individual flood insurance claim was more than $24,000. Without flood insurance protection, many property owners have to absorb the financial losses on their own, potentially draining their savings.

Tools You Can Use to Market Flood Insurance

Visit FloodSmart.gov to find essential information and tools that will help remind your customers to prepare for the dangers of flooding all year long, and please share these interactive resources with your customers, colleagues and partners as well.

Cost-of-Flooding Tool: Gives consumers an estimate of how much they will have to pay to repair their properties based on various levels of flooding.
One-Step Flood Risk Profile Assessment Tool: Enables consumers to enter their address and learn about their property’s flood risk.
Hurricane Flooding Fact Sheets: Explains hurricane season risks.
Hurricane Season Widget: A simple interactive application that you can post to your website that includes helpful flood risk/flood insurance information and tips for your customers.
Levee Simulator: Demonstrates how levees work and the risks home and business owners face when they fail.