Can you get flood insurance without homeowner insurance?

Flood Insurance is a stand-alone insurance policy that only covers flooding. Most homeowners’ policies exclude flooding from what they will cover. This question concerns us because we believe everyone should have varying insurance to offset their financial risk.

Not having basic homeowners is quite risky. We have heard that statically there is a .01% chance your home will ever burn to the ground.

Not having a flood insurance policy is even riskier. There is, however, a 1% – 15% chance every single day in areas considered low risk to flood and almost a 20% chance for those structures in high-risk flood zones.

Since the flood insurance policy is its policy, I guess you can get a flood insurance policy without having a homeowners policy. We don’t even verify that you have a homeowner policy because the two policies cover very different risks.

As mentioned earlier, the flood insurance policy only covers flooding. And flooding is defined by an overflowing of a large amount of water beyond its normal confines, especially over what is normally dry land. Another way I have heard it described is that the water has to touch the ground first and then come into the structure from the ground.

The NFIP and some private flood policies have the strictest language involving two or more properties or sq acres.

If you currently have a flood policy (let us see if we can get you a better one), you will need to consult the policy language under definitions to figure out what constitutes a flood. If you have a question, you will need to contact your agent, and if they can explain it to you (most can’t), that would be great. If not, let us be your agent, and we will help you understand the definitions if you ask.