July 22, 2020

Let's Talk About Flood Insurance

We learned this firsthand in 2013 when floodwaters all but destroyed the town of Lyons and inundated the Longmont area and nearby Weld County. But flooding is a concern outside of Northern Colorado as well.

A street sign in partially underwater in a flood

It's no exaggeration to call flooding one of the most destructive, if not most expensive, types of natural disasters. In fact, in 2017 U.S. insurers recorded more than $8.7 billion in covered losses for flood-related claims.

And that wasn't even the worst year on record.

Colorado is no exception, despite the fact that we're located far from the coasts in a relatively dry part of the country. Here the issue isn't storm surges or hurricanes, but a far more widespread and problematic cause of flooding: rain.

The monsoonal flow of tropical moisture in the late summer is a regular feature of life in the Rocky Mountain West, and it’s not unusual for big storms to line up along the Front Range on a nearly daily basis between the months of July and September. These seasonal storms are created by winds shifting in from the south, pulling moisture up from California and the Gulf of Mexico rather than from the dry western side of the state.

The result? Localized flooding across much of Colorado.

We learned this firsthand in 2013 when floodwaters all but destroyed the town of Lyons and inundated the Longmont area and nearby Weld County. But flooding is a concern outside of Northern Colorado as well. The City of Denver maintains a map of the local floodplains within its borders, many of which are in heavily populated, downtown areas. And for those outside the metro area, the Colorado Water Conservation Board maintains a similar interactive map covering the entire state.

The risk of flooding is very real in Colorado, and as a result so too is the need for flood insurance.

Are You Covered?

Buying flood insurance coverage isn’t as straightforward as buying a standard homeowners policy. This means that, in the event of a flood event, any damage to your home may be excluded from insurance coverage if you don’t have a flood rider in place.

That's because flood insurance is a separate product that isn’t included in your standard homeowners package. Flood insurance is part of a federal program: The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is administered by FEMA and was set up in order to ensure that American home and property owners have access to flood coverage. Since flooding can be so expensive—and is so common—many private insurers are not able to finance this type of coverage on their own. The NFIP program acts as a backstop, funding coverage that a pool of private insurance companies write, taking over responsibility for any losses.

This doesn’t have much impact on individual homeowners, it just ensures that policies are available to them at reasonable rates and that the funding is there when you need it.

The Insurance Information Institute Pulse survey found that 15% of homeowners had a flood insurance policy as of 2018, up from just 12% in 2016.


Read More

View All
A worker fixes an air conditioning unit

Preparing Your Home Cooling System for Summer

So it can be hot on the Front Range.‍ Traditionally, this has been a problem due to the fact that many historic homes in the region were not designed with warm weather in mind and often do not have cooling systems.
A white dog walks around a new house

The 5 Most Important Questions to Ask During a Home Inspection

Here are five questions that all home buyers should make sure are answered during their home inspection.
The boulder flatirons on a beautiful day

The Most Common Issues Uncovered During Home Inspections in Colorado

That home sale is right around the corner. It’s just within your grasp. But first, you have to pass the home inspection.
A desk with papers on it

5 Benefits of Offsite Manufacturing in Construction

Choosing to build construction components offsite results in higher overall project performance and efficiency. Offsite building processes are identical for each component constructed, which means that it takes less time to construct these components than if the raw materials were first delivered on-site and then integrated, one by one, into an existing structure. 
Two Hands Holding Hail

It’s Hail Season in Colorado. Here’s What You Need to Know

Monday, May 8, 2017, should not have been a particularly eventful day, but in parts of Colorado’s Front Range, it turned into a day that few will likely ever forget.
A man stands in front of a building with a mask on

How the Pandemic is Changing Where and How We Live

Massively disruptive events always change the social landscape. Just as the Great Depression colored the sensibilities of people who lived through it, generations of people today are likely to feel the long-lasting results of the coronavirus pandemic for decades to come.