What to Do When the Water Rises

 By Catherine Powell

Image by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

I don't know if you noticed, but lately the evening news has looked more like the Weather Channel due to all the storms and floods that have been inundating areas around the globe.  Just last night I witnessed the devastation that occurred in Syria after 16 inches of rain caused two dams to fail.  Last month they aired footage of historic floods in places like Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont.  Whether these floods are caused by climate change or not, it just goes to show how quickly rising water can upend people's lives.  Being that I live in Hurricane Alley, it doesn't take that much foresight to imagine the damage that rising water can do to the place where I live.  Even if you don't live in areas that are prone to flooding, as the news coverage proves, this doesn't mean that your town or your home can't be subjected to a flood.  To help you deal with such a possibility, I have come up with ten things you can do when the water rises.

10 Ways to Prepare Your Home for a Flood

 By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

Most everyone in north Florida breathed a sigh of relief after Tropical Storm Elsa blew through town last week.  While there were some downed trees and powerlines, it wasn’t nearly as hair raising a storm as Hurricane Irma was a few years back.  While the high wind and torrential rain that comes along with a named storm leave many people quaking in their boots when the weatherman tells them one is headed their way, what most homeowners don’t realize is that when it comes to severe damage, there’s another peril that can be unleashed whenever severe weather rears its ugly head.  I’m talking about flooding.  We insurance agents know that when it comes to damage claims, flood damage trumps wind and rain damage by far.  To help you get prepared for the next named storm, I thought I’d give you ten was to prepare your property for a potential flood.

Florida Legislature Addresses Sea Level Rise

 By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

With 1,350 miles of coastline, you’d think that Florida would be bullish when it came to addressing coastal flooding caused by global warming.  Yet until recently, not only did the state legislature do little to address the fears of those who live near the coast, but it refused to entertain discussion about sea level rise.  All that changed when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed two bills into law last week that pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in flood control projects.  While some who live near the coast have said it’s about time, others who’ve seen water in their neighborhoods rise on clear days during high tide think it’s too little too late.  So severe is the threat of flooding in some coastal communities that three Florida insurers recently announced they wouldn’t renew some 53,000 homeowner’s policies.  More than an inconvenience, this has left many homeowners scrambling to find coverage just as hurricane season begins.  If you live on or near the coast and are wondering what you should do to protect your property from flooding, here are my top-10 tips.

Flood Insurance Facts

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of flickr

Having narrowly dodged the bullet that wreaked a swath of destruction from the Florida Panhandle to South Carolina when Hurricane Michael past nearby a few weeks ago, I just wanted to point out that Hurricane season isn’t over until November 30.  While all of us in north Florida breathed a silent sigh of relief after the third most destructive hurricane in US history went around us, I thought I’d take the time to devote this week’s blog to discussing flood insurance facts.