Flooding has many causes. There are New England nor’easters, Gulf Coast tropical storms, Texas floods, Nebraska blizzards, Florida’s hurricanes, Hawaii’s torrential rains, California’s bomb cyclones and Southwest summer storms that whip up floods in a flash. There are storm surges, tsunamis, dam breaches, busted levees, and ice jams. The list goes on.
Flooding is an ever-present threat to Americans—all of us—from sea to shining sea. At risk are lives, livelihoods, real estate, personal property and business assets.
Fortunately, Americans have a way to protect themselves. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is an effective and reliable safeguard against flood risk. NFIP has more than 4.7 million flood insurance policies in force, providing coverage in excess of $1.28 trillion.
In 2021 alone, all 50 states and the District of Columbia were affected by flooding, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Flood insurance is necessary because just about everyone has some level of risk that’s determined by factors such as geography, weather patterns, new construction, and even a specific building’s elevation and construction type. Anywhere it rains it can flood.
Yet in human terms, flood risk is more than a cold calculation of odds that flooding will occur in a particular time and place. For families and business owners, risk is the potential setback from flood-related losses: destruction of homes, other real estate, personal property including home furnishings, business property, etc. Flooding disrupts businesses, careers, communities and families.
NOAA estimates that in 2022, flooding caused roughly $1.5 billion of damage in the United States. That same year, the NFIP distributed almost $116.3 million to cover policyholders’ flood-related losses. Flooding can drastically impact people’s financial wellbeing, and its impact is felt most severely by people without flood insurance who are unable to recoup the foundations of their lives. It doesn’t have to be that way. Buying flood insurance can provide peace of mind for the unexpected.