Peak Hurricane Season is Here - Get Flood Insurance Before a Storm Hits and It's Too Late!

Peak Hurricane Season is Here - Get Flood Insurance Before a Storm Hits and It's Too Late!

Read the important information below to learn about peak hurricane season flood risks and FloodSmart tools you can use to encourage you to protect yourselves with flood insurance.

Recent heavy rains across the United States serve as another reminder to you that NOW is the time for you to protect your families, homes and businesses by obtaining flood insurance. Late summer and early fall marks the beginning of peak hurricane season - the most active time of the year for hurricanes and tropical storms - and property and business owners need to be prepared should a storm hit your community in the upcoming months. Most homeowners' insurance policies do not cover flood damage and once purchased, there is typically a 30-day waiting period for a flood insurance policy to become effective.


The Risk is Real

Hurricanes and tropical storms bring drenching rains and high winds that can cause significant damage to a home or business and its contents - and recent violent weather and subsequent flooding in Oklahoma and Tennessee demonstrate that floods are not limited to coastal areas. The largest amounts of rainfall from hurricanes are often produced by slow moving storms that move inland. Some of the worst damage from recent hurricanes has occurred hundreds or thousands of miles from the coast - as far north as New York in the case of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and through much of the Midwest and into Pennsylvania because of Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Costly Consequences

Eight of the top ten most expensive federally-declared disasters have been caused by hurricanes. Just inches of water can cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage and last year, the average individual flood insurance claim was nearly $28,000. Without flood insurance protection, many property owners may have to absorb the financial losses on their own, potentially draining their savings.

Protect Yourself

Individuals and business owners should get covered before a storm could impact their community and home. You should also know that flood insurance is more affordable than you 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 $119 a year (that's equal to $10 a month or 33 cents a day).

Tools You Can Use

Visit FloodSmart.gov to find essential information and tools that will help remind your customers to prepare for hurricane season.

Cost-of-Flooding Tool: allows property owners to see how expensive just a few inches of water can be to re-building their home or business.

Risk Assessment Tool: allows users to enter their address into an online tool to learn their property's flood risk.

Hurricane Flooding Fact Sheets: explains the realities of hurricane season risks.