Still Don’t have Flood Insurance? Really?

March 16th, 2010

March 15, 2010 — This is an excerpt from an email received last night from a family who was impacted by the floods which were a result of the storm that hit New Jersey on March 13, 2010.

 ”Hi everyone – some of you may have heard by now that we were flooded out of our home on Sat evening.  The street filled and the river behind us overflowed.  Our daughter had to be boated out by herself, as my husband felt he had to stay, and my son and I were not at home and could not get home. We picked up our daughter at a firehouse. That night is a very long scary story. 

 

The kids and I have been living at a hotel with only the clothes on our back.  The street was finally clear of water today, so we were able to get home to get my husband and some supplies (and a laptop) and come back to the hotel.  Our finished basement was destroyed including our furnace, hot water heater, washer dryer, refridgerator, tv, stereo, treadmill, couches, my son’s brand new laptop still in the box, a walk in closet full of clothes, all of our treasured Christmas and holiday decorations, and a lifetime of kids toys and memories. 

Everything in our shed was destroyed (lawn mower, snow blower, electric car, electric scooter) – none of which is covered.  Much of our garage was destroyed and not covered.  What my husband could save dragging it upstairs from the basement through 4 feet of water was minimal.  Our phone does not work, our laptop from home is in and out, we have no heat or hot water to shower and we are told we may lose electricity soon as a pole is half down on our street. 

We may return home tomorrow to try to start some cleanup but are unsure day to day how it will go or where we will be.  Lauren and Tyler could not stop themselves from crying when they were at the house.

We are lucky that our foundation held up and that the water did not get to our first floor.  We are lucky that we are all safe.  We are lucky for wonderful people who have offered to help.  It is very hard for us to deal with/talk about this, so I will probably not be calling anyone for a while and like I said, the computer is in and out at home so if you email me, I may not get it for awhile. ”

We encourage everyone to buy flood insurance. It’s horrible to get that call from a client – the water is rising in their basement and they’d like to report a claim - but we know, without a flood insurance policy, coverage under their NJ homeowners insurance policy is probably very limited. 

Do yourself a favor — while you’re thinking of it, spend a little time on FloodSmart.gov and ask us for a quote. You’ll be surprised how affordable Flood Insurance can be.

CCW Insurance ~ 732.280.2800