I just want to say that my wife told me we should get flood insurance three days ago. Two days ago a man in a kiyak rowed down our street and halfway up my driveway. I do not live in Venice. My neighbor's washing machine was floating. Other neighbor had water up to their knees. My car flooded up to the trunk before I got to it and managed to get it up the driveway (how the engine hadn't flooded is beyond me...I was ankle deep on water in my car). All in all we got pretty lucky. Everything that was destroyed was stuff I am just as glad to see gone, and there's no structural damage or drywall down there. Don't think we'll even have anything to claim. We fared much better than most on out street, and definitely better than our Brother-in-law's friend. Fun stuff! :)
This is interesting for me to read. Typically, flood insurance is regulated by the bank you got your mortgage from. They are required to determine if you live in a flood hazard zone and, if you do, must mandate that you carry flood insurance up to at least the value of our mortgage. I assume this may not cover possessions and may only be required to cover the bank's end - not yours - and so either you do not live in a designated flood hazard zone (determined by an entity separate from the bank; forget who at the moment though) or it doesn't cover possessions. Regardless I assume this is a pretty stressful time for you and I hope you weather it well!
Ha. We live in an area that is absolutely not in a flood zone or anything close to it. It was a freak weather event. The kind that don't happen in 80 years or so, but will probably start happening more often since weather is getting more extreme. It's only mildly stressful though :) I feel bad for the boatloads of people who got absolutely savaged by this. I haven't talked to a single person in the area that has flood insurance.