There are many different insurance terms and policy options that can be easily misinterpreted, when it comes time to start thinking about insurance. Many customers don’t grasp the full extent of what their policies cover, some don’t know what their deductibles and limits are, others still aren’t sure whether or not special situations are covered in their car or home policies. These can all be cleared up by contacting your insurance agent or skimming your policy.

Don’t assume that certain insurable events are covered by your existing policy. If you do, you may be subjecting you and your family to financial risk. An easily confused coverage is flood insurance.

Many shoppers think that flood insurance is automatically included in a home policy. Because of this many policy holders don’t ask their agent or insurance company if their home insurance policy will cover the damages associated with flood waters—they just assume that it will.  This assumption can turn out to be an extremely expensive mistake after a flood actually occurs because assuming that their home insurance policy provides flood coverage prevents them from taking the steps necessary to find out the truth about flood insurance and protect their family and their assets accordingly.

Now that we all know that home insurance policies do not cover damage caused by flood waters, let’s figure out what actually constitutes as flood waters. The National Flood Insurance Program defines a flood as:

A flood is a general and temporary condition where two or more acres of normally dry land or two or more properties are inundated by water or mudflow.

The definition of flood is easy enough to understand, but the reason that many homeowners think it’s included in their home insurance policy is because many of the events that can cause floods cause other damages that ARE covered under a home insurance policy. For instance, a hurricane may cause wind damage to your home that is covered in your policy, but it may also cause normally dry land to be temporarily inundated by water, which could run into your house and damage your floors and furniture—but because those are flood waters, they will only be covered if you have a flood policy.

So make sure you have a McAllen flood policy in place today. Whether you live in a flood zone or not, its protection that isn’t covered in your home policy but needs to be in place to secure your family.