What is Flood Insurance?
Homeowners insurance policies cover a variety of perils, but most don’t provide protection from floods. Vermont residents who want to insure their residences against damage caused by flooding typically have to purchase flood insurance apart from their homeowners policy.
Flood coverage is a form of insurance coverage that protects residences from a specific peril: abnormal water patterns. Flood policies are available for all kinds of residences, including single-family homes, apartment buildings, and condominium complexes. Some insurers even offer policies for people who lease their residence.
What Kinds of Events Does Flood Insurance Cover?
This insurance coverage is commonly called “flood coverage” because floods account for many of the claims that are filed against policies. Flooding is just one of the abnormal water patterns that a policy may provide coverage for, though.
In addition to covering flooding caused by rainstorms and snowmelt, which towns that are in valleys can be susceptible to, policies often also cover erosion caused by waves and changing currents. Coverage for erosion may be especially important to homeowners who have property in located on Lake Champlain, where waves can eat away at shorelines.
Some policies also provide coverage for mudflows and mudslides. Mudflow and mudslide coverage might be particularly important to homeowners who have homes on mountain slopes (these coverages are less common than the others, though).
