Flood Facts

More than 5 million people in the United States currently have flood insurance policies that span more than 20,200 cities and communities.

In terms of damage and economic loss, floods continue to rank as the most destructive natural disasters in the nation.

In the last 30 plus years, the NFIP has paid out more than $35 billion for flood insurance claims and related costs.

Over $16 billion in flood claims were awarded by the NFIP in the year 2005 alone.

One interesting flood insurance fact is that 1/3 of all claims that were paid by the NFIP in the United States in 2009 were actually for policies that were insured in low-risk areas.

You may be eligible to qualify for an insurance premium discount of up to 45%, if your community participates in the ‘Community Rating System' (CRS).

In the decade from 1994 to 2004, the annual flood loss averages in the United States were in excess of $2.4 billion.

In many cases, it takes 30 days after the purchase for a policy to fully in force, so it’s important to buy insurance before floodwaters start to rise.

During the course of a 30-year mortgage, your home has a 26% chance of being damaged in a flood. The chance of your home being damaged by a fire is only 9%.

Your area can experience an increase in flood risk due to new land development, this is done by construction changing natural runoff pathways.

If you receive federal disaster assistance, a loan that must be paid back with interest). Your monthly payments would likely be around $240.00 a month ($2,880.00 a year for 30 years) as long as your interest rate is around 4%. You can compare that to a flood insurance premium of $100,000, which is $400.00 a year or $33.00 a month.

Flash flooding has the potential to raise the walls of water to heights in excess of 10 feet, potentially up to 20 feet high.

There are some causes of flooding that are often overlooked, these include hurricanes and the snow melting from winter storms and blizzards.

Two feet of flood water is actually enough water to easily carry away an automobile.

With sustained winds that reached 125mph, and gusts even higher, Hurricane Katrina caused some of the worst devastation the United States has ever seen. To this day, states including Louisiana are still in the process of rebuilding and recovering.

Although you wouldn’t think this fact is true, just one inch of water has the potential to cause significant damage to a business or home.

Your mortgage lender will require you to have flood insurance if you live in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or a high-risk area and have a federally backed mortgage.

Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was one of the costliest and destructive river floods in United States history.

With sustained winds that reached 125mph, and gusts even higher, Hurricane Katrina caused some of the worst devastation the United States has ever seen. To this day, states including Louisiana are still in the process of rebuilding and recovering.

Everyone lives in a potential flood zone.