City of Oldsmar, Florida Disaster Prep, 31 Dec 2015

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From YouTube: Prepare to Survive - El Niño | Insurance

Description

Did you know typical homeowners insurance policies don’t cover damage from the rising waters of a flood? In this special edition of Prepare to Survive, learn what kind of insurance coverage you’ll need to protect your property in the event of an unexpected flood during this El Niño season. Rahim Harji, manager of Pinellas County Watershed Management, talks about how the county is working to promote community flood safety and improve insurance premiums for property owners. Lynne McChristian of the Insurance Information Institute explains the difference between homeowners insurance and flood insurance.

Check out all six segments of Prepare to Survive – Special Edition El Niño here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2oRjtRi088Dl-HLroX7jEoovAg1mlvnf

For more information about flood hazards and insurance, visit http://www.pinellascounty.org/flooding/ or go to http://www.pinellascounty.org/emergency/El-Nino.htm for tips on how to prepare for El Niño.

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Libby: welcome back to this special edition of "prepare to survive.", I'm libby bolling with pinellas county communications.

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We've been talking about the possible effects of el nino this winter and spring, and how to be prepared.

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And one of the best ways to be prepared is to have the right.

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Insurance to cover any losses.

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joining me to discuss that is rahim harji, manager with.

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Pinellas county watershed management., thank you for joining us,, rahim., rahim: glad to be here. libby: and joining us on a skype. Video call is.

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Lynne mcchristian, florida representative for the insurance information institute.

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Thanks for joining us,, lynne. lynne:, it's my pleasure. libby: now, lynne, tell us about what homeowners insurance.

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Covers., when we think about bad weather and potential losses at a home,.

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Can you describe that for us? lynne: sure.

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A standard homeowners insurance policy will cover fire,.

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Damage from tornado. it will cover a multitude of things, hurricane damage,, but it.

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Does not cover flood insurance.?

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The only thing that protects you for flood insurance is getting a separate flood insurance policy.

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and you can call your insurance company to ask about it,.

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Or you can go directly to the federal government by looking at.

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The national flood insurance program.

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everyone in florida really needs to consider flood insurance.

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Libby: now,, we always think about flood insurance related to.

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Maybe a hurricane and storm surge,, but there are areas.

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Everywhere in the country where you wouldn't typically think that you might need flood insurance, is that correct?

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lynne: that is correct.

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You know, flood damage is the number one natural.

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Disaster risk. and a lot of people don't think about that., you know, the hurricanes,, those get the headlines, but 90% of.

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All natural disasters include some element of flood.

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So if it rains where you are -- and we're thinking that this.

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Winter is going to be a rain event.

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we're going to have more rain than usual this winter., so flood insurance is really something to think about year-round,, not just during hurricane season., libby: so,, when we think about homeowners, insurance and flood.

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Insurance,, how do those two work- together?, lynne: well,? The flood insurance- will cover anything.

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That's water --, that's rising, water.

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so, for example,, if a lake or if there's storm surge or a pond.

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Near your home floods and it damages one or more acres,.

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That's considered flood damage. if water --, if a hurricane, came and blew off your roof and then.

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The water came in through the house,, your homeowners would.

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Cover that. but flood damage is rising water., and so you really need separate coverage..

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What people need to think about, libby, is flood. Insurance is.

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Financial protection., any insurance is protecting your investment in your home.

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So that's why flood insurance is something that people really.

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Need to look at. and if they live in a low-to-moderate risk, zone,.

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The cost of flood insurance is relatively affordable,.

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Between four and seven hundred dollars, a year.

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Libby:- and we also want to look at things like deductibles.

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And coverage for our belongings as well, right?.

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Lynne:, that's right.

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That's right. renters need to think about flood insurance because some.

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Rental policies do cover flood damage,, but most do not.

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So if somebody is renting -- and a lot more people are renting these days -- they can get flood insurance for their.

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Contents only, for their stuff.

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The landlord does not cover flood damage., it's up to the renter to get that., so you can get insurance for the structure itself. If you're a.

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Homeowner,, the structure and the contents.

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And one tip that people need to look at is too often people.

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Forget that they can raise their deductible up to lower how much.

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The flood insurance costs. so ask your insurance professional about how high you.

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Might want to go with that flood deductible to save yourself.

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Libby: um-hum., and we also need to think about things like code upgrades,,.

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Things like that, that you kind of don't ever think about, too.

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Lynne: well,, it's code, upgrades, things you can do to.

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Minimize the risk., but the other thing, there's a lot more construction going on right, now. and sometimes that construction changes the watershed,. So the.

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Runoff can be different., so people need to continually look to assess their risk.

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And a really easy thing to do is to go to floodsmart.gov.

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That is a website. they can plug in their zip code, find out what their flood risk.

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Is., but keep in mind, no one lives in a no-risk flood zone.

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Where it rains,, it can flood.

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Libby: thank you, lynne,, so much for joining us.

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Lynne: thank you. libby:, all right.

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now, rahim, we've been talking about flooding, and you work.

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With our watershed management division here in pinellas county., we have what's called a community rating system.

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Can you tell us about that and how it helps us with flood.

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Insurance premiums? rahim:, the community rating system, is a voluntary program.

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That any community that's enrolled in the national flood.

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Insurance program can voluntarily take on by doing.

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Above and beyond the minimum, fema requirements.

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So, for example,, if we decide to have development regulated to.

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One foot above the base flood elevation,- that is going above.

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And beyond. what the county has decided to do is make a commitment to where.

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It's trying to save our residents on their flood insurance policies. and we've taken a proactive approach on trying to increase.

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Our community rating score.

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Right now,, we are currently at a class 7, which results in all of.

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Our residents receiving a 15% discount on their flood.

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Insurance rates., but because of all the efforts we've gone through in the last year and a half, we'll be moving up to a class 5, which will save.

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The residents within the unincorporated area, 25% on their.

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Flood insurance, policies., libby: well,, that's wonderful.,.

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So what kind of programs are you putting in place that help us.

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Mitigate the costs? rahim:, it's a variety of things.

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It all started from about 2013 when the board of county.

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Commissioners approved a surface water assessment where it gave.

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Us some more tools to be able to be more proactive in our.

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Maintenance, our programming,, but it also included reaching.

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Out to the community more., so one of the first things we did was we revamped our website.

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Pinellascounty.Org/Flooding, and it is more interactive.

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You can go up into the website, type in your address, and it can.

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Tell you what flood zone you're in., we also reached out to the community at a higher level..

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We did targeted mail-outs., we did just general meetings..

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We brought up flood insurance, flooding issues more often.

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And we formed a committee called the plan for public involvement.

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For pinellas county,, and that just involves a bunch of.

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External stakeholders that just discuss different projects that.

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We can implement to help get the word out.

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Libby:, that's great. well,. We really appreciate you joining us today and passing.

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Along that information. rahim: thank you. libby: thank you.. If you'd like more information about all types of insurance,,.

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Including homeowners and flood, visit the insurance information.

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Institute's website at:.

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And if you'd like more information about the community rating system, visit:,.