Whether you believe in global warming, global cooling, or you just call it mother nature being her usual unpredictable self, the reality is that the last few years do seem to have seen an increase in floods across the globe, some caused by tsunamis, others caused by torrential rain, but in each the sad plight of people without flood insurance surely broke your heart.
Imagine that was your family clinging to the roof of your submerged home, or the child crying that all their toys were destroyed. It isn't a very nice thought is it? But you can do something to minimize your losses and recover quickly, all you need is flood insurance appropriate to your situation.
The biggest problem with making a claim for flood damage is that many home insurance policies exclude water damage, and what is a flood, well pretty much just water. Sure your policy might accept a claim for wind damage, or some other non-water source of damage, but do you really want to take the risk?
Flood insurance in the United States is regulated by the Federal government so pricing is controlled, this doesn't make it cheap, but since so many areas of the US have higher than normal flood risks the government offers subsidies to insurance companies which brings down the premium you pay.
Regardless of the premium, take a moment to remember those poor souls in New Orleans who lost everything from a flood nobody expected, after all the city had some great flood defenses installed. But being close to the coast or a river is no guarantee you'll be flooded, in fact sometimes the worst flooding occurs where there is no river because the water has nowhere to go.