How to get affordable Florida flood insurance
“Anywhere it can rain, it can flood.” – FEMA
As of 2019, there are 117,952 National Flood Insurance Program policies in place in Florida. Because homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flood damage, most Florida homeowners turn to the NFIP to protect their homes from storm surges.
But there’s a better and more affordable way to protect your home from floods. With Kin, you can simply add flood insurance to your policy as an endorsement. We crunched the numbers, and we can help about 71 percent of Florida homeowners save more than they would with a National Flood Insurance Program policy.
The perks of our flood insurance:
- There’s no waiting period for your flood coverage to take effect.
- You can add on flood coverage at any point in your policy term.
- We match your flood limits to your dwelling coverage limits.
- No separate deductibles.
- You pay one premium for both your home and flood insurance.
- No elevation certificate required.
- You work with one company for both flood and hurricane claims.
Do Florida homeowners need flood insurance?
So why is flood insurance so important in Florida? Consider the sheer number of Florida single-family homes at risk of storm surge.
Florida homes at risk of storm surge
| Storm category |
Number of single-family homes at risk |
| Category 1 |
353,994 |
| Category 2 |
1,088,511 |
| Category 3 |
1,806,312 |
| Category 4 |
2,362,323 |
| Category 5 |
2,851,642 |
Source: Insurance Information Institute
Florida in particular is more at risk for floods than any other state, thanks to its 11,000 miles of rivers, streams, and waterways coupled with flat terrain. According to NOAA, Florida gets 54 inches of rainfall on average across the state each year.
It’s not just coastal homeowners who need flood insurance. About 20 to 25 percent of flood claims happen outside high-risk flood zones, which means even if your lender doesn’t require flood coverage, it’s a smart plan.
And lastly, if you have a federally backed mortgage (think FHA, VA, or USDA loan) and you live in Flood Zone A or Flood Zone V, you are required to purchase flood insurance.
Florida’s flood risk at a glance
- $28.9k: The average NFIP flood claim payout.
- 2.9 million: The number of single-family homes at risk for storm surge damage from Category 5 storms.
- $581 billion: The cost to completely rebuild these homes, including labor and materials.
- 98 percent: The Florida population who lives in coastal counties and are most at-risk of storm surges.
- Nearly 20 percent: The number of Florida counties that experienced 50 or more flood events in the past 24 years.
- 42 percent: The number of Florida homeowners who have flood insurance.
Source: III and FEMA
What does flood insurance cost in Florida?
For all of Florida, the average flood insurance premium is $856, but low-risk counties will pay much, much less. That’s because the cost of flood insurance varies depending on your home’s flood zone.
When weighing flood insurance costs, remember that even an inch of standing water can cause roughly $25,000 of damage to your home - and that's not counting the cost to replace lost belongings. More importantly, floods can happened anywhere, including outside of high-risk flood zones.
What does Florida flood insurance cover?
While a standard home insurance policy can cover water damage from a burst pipe, it does not cover damage caused by floods. Only flood insurance can do that.
What exactly counts as a flood? Any condition where two or more acres of normally dry land are inundated by inland or tidal waters or mudflow. Flood policies also offer coverage for groundwater seepage, mudflow, and floods caused by broken water mains.
Flood insurance can cover flood damage to your home, other structures, and your belongings. These are covered for their replacement cost up to the limits in your homeowners policy.
Your coverage means you can make a claim if the following items are damaged by floods:
- Electrical, heating, cooling, and plumbing systems.
- Appliances, including refrigerators, stoves, washers, and dryers.
- Carpeting and window treatments.
- Built-in bookcases, cabinets, and paneling.
- Foundation, walls, anchorage systems, and staircases attached to the structure.
- A detached garage.
- Personal property, including clothing, furniture, and electronic equipment that isn’t stored in the basement.
- Valuables, like artwork, silverware, china, memorabilia, and furs, up to $2,500 in value.
You can also add on coverage for:
- Debris removal.
- Moving property prior to a flood.
- Filling sandbags for temporary levees.
- Work you perform to protect the home from floods.
What Florida flood insurance doesn’t cover
Flood insurance can’t cover everything. For example, our flood endorsement excludes coverage for:
- Boathouses or anything boats are attached to.
- Fences and retaining walls.
- Sea walls.
- Hot tubs, pool, and pool equipment.
- Landscaping.
- Decks.
- Septic systems.
- Moisture or mold/mildew damage that could’ve been prevented.
- Additional living expenses when a flood makes the home uninhabitable.
- Cars and other vehicles.
- Earthquakes and earth movements caused by floods.
Flood insurance also usually won’t cover water damage to personal belongings in basements and crawl spaces.
How much flood insurance do I need in Florida?
When you add on flood insurance to your homeowners insurance policy, we’ll automatically match your flood coverage limits with your:
- Dwelling coverage.
- Other structures coverage.
- Personal property coverage.
That way you don’t have to remember two limits. What you see in your declarations page of each of these coverages is what you have in flood insurance to protect your home, other structures, and belongings.
Do you need an elevation certificate to get flood insurance in Florida?
Not with Kin. A flood elevation certificate is a document that shows your property’s elevation, flood zone, and relative estimated height of floodwaters. You need an EC to get a policy with the NFIP, but with us, it’s totally optional.
When to buy flood insurance in Florida
There’s no waiting period for our flood coverage, and it’s effective immediately. By comparison, the NFIP has a 30-day waiting period before coverage takes effect. That means you can add on flood insurance with us any time – except when we’re in a moratorium and waiting for a storm to pass before issuing new policies.
That said, buy flood insurance before you need it. That means before hurricane season starts! No insurance policy retroactively covers flood damage you already have, so get your coverage before a hurricane or flood strikes.
How to get a Florida flood insurance quote
Just ask for a flood quote when you apply for homeowners insurance. Already a Kin policyholder? Give us a call at 855-717-0022 to add on flood coverage today!
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