I participate in a Yahoo! email discussion group called “CIRMS.” In a recent post, California attorney Barry Zalma cautioned participants:
“If any of your clients are in the wildfire areas but suffered no fire damage, they should immediately purchase flood insurance since the denuded hillsides will turn to viscous mud when the rains come in January, February, or March. Flood is an extra coverage and not covered by homeowners, condo-owners, or basic commercial property policies. The lucky ones without fire damage face a serious risk of a non-covered loss for mudslide and flood.”
One question is whether the NFIP flood policies cover all mud damage. They don’t. To assist in determining what is or isn’t covered, CIRMS guru Cliff Treese posted the following FEMA link.
Also, you can find FEMA RCBAP flood data in the Community Association Fact Book 2016, Part Four (State Summaries)…see section #6.2 for each state.
Insureds in these areas should consider both flood insurance and DIC policies in order to properly protect themselves from both flood and earth movement.
Bill Wilson
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Thank you Bill for sharing with your readers the information about the upcoming webinar on Feb. 7 regarding the many aspects of the growing flood issues facing insurance professionals.
The visuals of yesterday’s mudflows/mudslides are just another example of the destructive power of Mother Nature. In the aftermath of our wildfires, I learned a folksy way to distinguish between a mudslide and a mudflow from the local NFIP Director at the time. The distinction is very important because mudflows are covered by the NFIP policy and mudslides are not. According to him, a mudflow is like a chocolate milkshake that flows and is full of debris being carried by the water. A mudslide is like a piece of chocolate cake that just separates from the rest of the surrounding ground and drops rather than flows. Of course, the NFIP adjusters will have to determine whether the damaged buildings are covered under their policy or not. Based on history, it is likely most folks had no flood insurance nor a DIC which might cover landslides.
If your readers are interested, I wrote an article for a book entitled Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region in which I write about the post-Waldo wildfire flood events. I would be happy to share this one article with them if they send me their email.
Your quotation from Barry Zalma is absolutely on point. Most folks are likely eligible for the NFIP preferred policy where they can buy $500k flood insurance for a little under $500. These rates may be different in CA but they were the rates for folks outside special hazard flood zones here in Colorado. One other very important piece of consumer information: the currently authorized NFIP program waives their 30 day wait on flood insurance. They still show it on their declaration page but will waive it if flood damage deemed to be caused by post wild fire flooding. (Have not seen any discussion of changes on this in current re-authorization bill which ends on Jan 19.) One other quick note: the heightened flood expose following a wildfire continues for a minimum of ten years and a maximum of twenty years, so it is an important protection following a wildfire.