DANGEROUS WATERS

With the changes in the weather across this
country, flooding is becoming a regular occurrence.
And with anything that happens fairly
regularly, we can get careless. Here are some
reasons not to let that happen!
•Your homeowners’ insurance policy excludes
damage from floods. If you want to buy flood
coverage, you need to buy a separate policy.
•In areas of high risk of flooding, your home is
more likely to be damaged by flood than by fire.
•If you a mortgage backed by one of the Federal
mortgage agencies to buy a home, and the
home is located in a high-risk or special flood
hazard area, your lender will require you to buy
flood insurance.
•Even a few inches of water from a flood can
cause many thousands of dollars in damage.
•A flash flood can bring a wall of water as
much as 10 to 15 feet high.
•A car can easily be carried away by just two
feet of rushing water. See this short video here
of a man in Texas driving his car into a flooded
roadway.
•You may not think of these as causes of
floods, but Hurricanes, winter storms and snowmelt
are common causes of flooding.
•It is not unusual for new development of land
to cause an increase in flood risk, especially if it
changes the natural path for water runoff.
•Flooding is the No. 1 natural disaster in the
United States.
•From 2005 to 2014, the average flood claim
was $42,000, and total flood insurance claims
averaged more than $3.5 billion per year.
•Nationally, the average flood premium is $700
per year.
•U.S. Flood Insurance Loss Statistics
•Ranking Total Payments
•1. Texas $2,249,450,933.34
•2. Louisiana $1,542,959,989.27
•3. Florida $1,479,585,524.19
•4. New Jersey $577,019,343.82
•5. N.Carolina $550,946,543.87
Its bad
enough to
lose your
home and
your belongings
to floodwaters
but to
lose your life
or the lives
of those dear
to you is a
loss no one
should have
to bear. Following
are
some statistics
showing
that not only does Texas top the charts in insurance
losses but in lives lost as well.
The National Weather Service in cooperation
with the City of Dickinson is offering a seminar
to help explain the dangers of rising water. This
is a free seminar and full of valuable information.
Floods are the leading cause of fatalities connected
with natural disasters in Texas. A combination
of physiography and precipitation often
result in extreme hydrologic conditions that
cause floods in the state. Comparison with other
states reveals that the size of the population of
Texas is a major factor in the increased number
of fatalities. The data also suggest that driving
or walking into floodwaters may be responsible
for more than 93% of flood fatalities in Texas. Although
most high-fatality counties are located in
the Texas “Flash Flood Alley” that includes major
urban centers, normalization of fatality data
shows that the flood-fatality risk is actually higher
in other areas of the state. Texas has the most
flood fatalities and injuries in the United States.
Of particular concern is the relatively very high
number of motor vehicle-related flood fatalities
in the state.