Californians Urged To Buy Flood Insurance Ahead Of El Niño

With a strong El Nino in place, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is urging Californians in flood prone places to buy insurance before it’s too late.

“If there was ever a time to buy flood insurance, this is the time”, said Roy Wright, deputy associate administrator for insurance and mitigation at FEMA, at a press conference reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Previous data suggests that it would be wise to buy flood insurance because 37% of all flood insurance claims have come as a result of two winters, 1982-83 and 1997-98 Рthe last two times when El Ni̱o conditions were as severe as the current one. But because there are large numbers of renters and people who have paid off their mortgages living near rivers, creeks and shorelines, only 30 to 50 percent of people living in high hazard areas nationwide have flood insurance, Wright said. Both these times were the last couple of times when El Nino conditions like those of this year occurred.

Even Californians who are living in low to moderate risk areas should prepare and get flood insurance.

It is worth mentioning that the people near Antelope Valley and Lake Hughes already got a little taste of something like the destructive El Nino earlier this month as heavy rainfall caused much havoc including mudslides that swallowed many trucks and cars across the Interstate 5 and along the 58 Freeway. Those policies only cover damage if a tree falls through a roof or storms cause minor harm such as breaking your windows – but it certainly doesn’t cover damage from raging flood waters. This usually happens whenever storm drains back up & flood neighborhoods or when water runs down hills. Because the ground is so try, the rain creates floods very quickly.

Flood insurance policies for people in high-risk areas can cost $1,000 or a more a year.

Unlike other types of insurance which are purchased from private insurance providers, flood insurance gets funding from the federal government because of a law enacted in 1968 after a lot of private companies stopped offering policies after huge losses.