Flood zones, flood insurance

July 7, 2008

I get asked by quite a few potential Charleston home buyers about flood zones and flood insurance. A client recently asked, “When a listing says a home in Mount Pleasant is in a flood zone, does that mean that many or most of those homes will get water coming into their house? Will rivers overflow and turn backyards into swimming pools? What is the major thing to look out for with flood problems?”

No is the real answer … but there is always a little more to the story.

The first thing you have to realize is that Charleston and Mount Pleasant is not like New Orleans in that it is not shaped like a saucer and below sea level with levees holding the water out.

You may have noticed the problems in the Midwest where the rivers in Iowa and elsewhere are far above flood stage, broke through levees and sandbags and wiped out lots of homes and sometimes even entire towns. This was referred to as a once in 500 year flood but unfortunately, this was the year. Most of those homeowners did not have flood insurance but they should have. Maybe they just didn’t know.

So back to Charleston. We start at sea level and get a little higher. Some homes are elevated construction where the home starts at the second level because it is built on fairly low land but not below sea level. The first floor is mostly a garage and storage for things you aren’t really worried about because that level is generally uninsurable.

The soil in the Charleston area is mostly sandy and absorbs and holds a lot of water. But when you get torrential rains or storm surge such as from a hurricane, and I’m speaking of a big one like Hugo in ‘89 or other famous hurricanes like Katrina or Andrew, you can have water problems.

A lot of the problems with insurance claims from Katrina are that the insurance carriers claimed that water caused the problem, not the wind. Which came first, the water or the wind to cause the damage. The point is important because wind is covered under your homeowner’s hazard policy and water is only covered if you have flood insurance.

So you buy flood insurance. If you are not in a flood zone, then it’s pretty inexpensive, maybe $300 – $400 per year. If you are in a flood zone, again, it will depend on the zone and the elevation and it might be $400 – $500 on the low end but it could be $1000 or more depending on the elevation and the value of the house as well.

I personally don’t live in a flood zone but you can be assured that I have flood insurance. And it’s a smart thing no matter where in the country you might live. Check out the FEMA website for more information. Water is the biggest cause of damage, period. we spend a lot of money on insurance protecting ourselves from fire, burglary, etc., but the biggest cause of damage by far is water. You don’t have to live in a flood zone for bad things to happen.

By the way, since we are in hurricane season, I also get a lot of questions from people wondering if I worry about a hurricane. While I of course do, I can honestly say that one of the best things about hurricanes is that you generally get a lot of notice as they move across the ocean. The forecasters have a pretty good idea where they will hit and you have time to make preparations and decisions which isn’t necessarily the case with tornadoes and earthquakes.

And while I think I’m well insured against disasters, let’s hope and pray we don’t have one to contend with.

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