Summer Storm Season Reminder: Educate Clients on Loss Avoidance

Summer brings hurricane season and intense storms to much of the country. When flooding threatens or is imminent, it can be a very emotional experience. Remind your clients that the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) covers certain protective actions policyholders take to minimize flood damage and losses to their buildings and personal property before a flood occurs.

Eligibility
NFIP policies may cover up to $1,000 in reasonable costs to protect an insured property and up to $1,000 to move insured property away from a flood or imminent danger of flood.

• To be eligible, the insured property must be in a community where:
  • A general condition of flooding exists, or
  • An official has issued an evacuation order or other civil order for the community, requiring measures to protect life and property from flooding.
• Reasonable loss avoidance expenses include:
  • Fill to create temporary levees,
  • Sandbags and the sand to fill them,
  • Water pumps, and
  • Plastic sheeting and lumber used for any of the loss avoidance measures above.

• Labor costs for loss avoidance work the policyholder or a household member performs are also reimbursable at the federal minimum wage.

Making Loss Prevention Claims
Remind clients to keep copies of all receipts and a record of time spent performing any loss avoidance work to submit with their claims. Clients follow the regular claims process to submit loss avoidance claims.

You can find additional information on loss avoidance in the NFIP Flood Insurance Manual, Appendix A.