[Winona] Insurance/flood insurance

[terri hyle]

  For reasons I do not understand, flooding is not usually included in home 
owners insurance policies.  I don't like it, I don't agree, I find it  
upsetting.


One disturbing thing I heard and read in the news coverage of the recent 
floods is the number of people who say they could not get flood insurance 
because they do not live on a flood plain.  In fact, that is what I thought 
was the case. But listening to NPR coverage, I learned that you CAN purchase 
flood insurance as long as you live in a community that  participates in the 
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), you're eligible to purchase flood 
insurance. (source:  FEMA's floodsmart.gov site).

A list of communities that participate in the NFIP is found here:

http://www.fema.gov/cis/MN.pdf

Goodview, Minnesota City, Winona, Winona County, Rushford, Houston, St. 
Charles and Houston are all included (sorry, I haven't listed every affected 
community, but I believe all of those affected communities in SE MN do 
participate).

There is a great deal of information available at FEMA's flood site:

http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/options.jsp

I urge everybody to gather as much information as possible to make informed 
and intelligent decisions about protecting their homes and families.

What I find particularly infuriating is that it was clear to me that many 
people believed--presumably because they had been told by insurance 
agents--that they did not qualify for flood insurance because they do not 
live on a flood plain, which is not in fact, the case.  I would be very 
interested in finding out for certain why people believed that they were 
ineligible for flood insurance.  If people were misinformed by insurance 
companies or agents, then I really think that some legal action needs to be 
taken.

Terri Hyle






>From: "Joliene Olson" <jwolson at luminet.net>
>To: <winona at mnforum.org>
>Subject: [Winona] Insurance/flood insurance
>Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 09:55:10 -0500
>
>[Winona Online Democracy]
>


>I agree with Linda Fort and her posting about insurance in general.  Home
>owners insurance should be written to protect our homes. period.  One 
>policy
>should do the trick.
>
>
>
>Traditionally, however, if we wanted protection from floods we need a
>separate policy called 'flood insurance'.  Or, as the family in 
>Brownsville,
>have a rider on their homeowners for earthquake etc. Some are required to
>carry 'flood insurance' if they have a mortgage and live in a flood plain.
>Here in Winona (City) we had to carry flood insurance on our house until 
>the
>dike system was fully installed or until the mortgage was paid in full.
>Then we could stop paying.
>
>
>
>I would like to know if anyone knows the real information on Flood
>insurance.  I have heard (but haven't verified) that there are people right
>now who do have flood insurance but won't get a dime for some/various
>reasons.  WHY NOT!  If a person has flood insurance and their house is in a
>flood why don't they get protection?????  Again, I have heard that it
>depends on how the policy is written.  But why!  A flood is a flood.
>
>
>
>Are there any of you who are reading and participating in Online Democracy
>who have any more information than I do?  Does flood insurance pay off for
>those who have it??
>
>
>
>Thanks
>
>Joliene Olson
>


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