Never report a flood loss by telephone. Complete the ACORD Property Loss Notice form and mail the original to the adjuster handling the claim with a copy of the policy Declarations Page. If a Control Office or FICO has been established, follow the special instructions which will be issued at that time. Always keep one copy for your records.
A “single adjuster” program has been arranged between the National Flood Insurance Program and the Citizens Property Insurance Company. A single adjuster will then handle both the windstorm claim and the flood loss on the same property. Similar arrangements are anticipated with some of the private insurance carriers. The concept is good and should expedite claims handling. It is most important to determine before any flooding whether CPIC and any of your companies have adopted the “single adjuster” program.
III. FLOOD QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Q. What perils are covered by a flood policy?
A. Only one, flood, which means:
1. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from:
a. The overflow of inland or tidal waters.
b. The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source.
c. Mudflow
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2. The collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or other body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding the cyclical levels which result in flooding as defined in A-1 above.
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Q. Is removal to preserve and protect personal property covered?
A. Yes, subject to limitations, property is covered for 45 days if removed to protect it from damage by flood. The cost of moving the property is also covered up to a maximum of $1,000 and is not subject to any policy deductible.
Q. What are some of the losses not covered?
A.
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Sewer backup or seepage of water unless property has been, at the same time, damaged by flood. Check with your WYO company for other restrictions.
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Water or moisture damage resulting primarily from any condition substantially confined to the insured building.
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Loss of use; loss of access; business interruption; additional living expense
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Theft, fire, explosion, wind or windstorm
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Loss caused by earth movement
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Losses caused by insured’s failure to use reasonable means to preserve property after a flood.
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Loss which is already in progress when policy goes into force.
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Loss caused by off-premises power failure.
Q. What are some of the properties not covered?
A.
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Accounts, bills, deeds, evidences of debt, money, coins, postage stamps, manuscripts, etc...
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Fences, piers, seawalls, retaining walls, outdoor swimming pools, bulkheads, wharves, bridges, docks, boat houses on or over water.
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Land values, lawn, trees, shrubs, plants, growing crops, livestock, walks, driveways, paved surfaces, outside building foundation walls.
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Animals, birds, fish, aircraft, motor vehicles (with exceptions), watercraft.
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Personal property not inside a fully enclosed building
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Buildings and personal property located entirely in, on or over water
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Underground structures and equipment
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Swimming pools and their equipment
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Ineligible property under the Coastal Barrier Resources Act
The following very important limitations are reproduced below in their entirety:
We insure against direct physical loss by or from flood to:
8. Items of property in a building enclosure below the lowest elevated post-FIRM building located in Zones A1-A30, AE, AH, AR, AR/A, AR/AE, AR/AH, AR/A1-A30, V1-VE, or in a basement, regardless of the zone.
Coverage is limited to the following:
a. Any of the following items, if installed in their functioning locations and, if necessary for operation, connected to a power source:
(1) Central air conditioners;
(2) Cisterns and the water in them;
(3) Drywall for the walls and ceilings in a basement and the cost of labor to nail it, unfinished and unfloated and not taped, to the framing;
(4) Electrical junction and circuit breaker boxes;
(5) Electrical outlets and switches;
(6) Elevators, dumbwaiters, and related equipment, except for related equipment installed below the base flood elevation after September 30, 1987
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(7) Fuel tanks and the fuel in them;
(8) Furnaces and hot water heaters;
(9) Heat Pumps
(10) Nonflammable insulation in a basement;
(11) Pumps and tanks used in solar energy systems;
(12) Stairways and staircases attached to the building, not separated from it by elevated walkways;
(13) Sump pumps;
(14) Water softeners and the chemicals in them, water filters, and faucets installed as an integral part of the plumbing system;
(15) Well water tanks and pumps;
(16) Required utility connections for any item in this list; and
(17) Footings, foundations, posts, pilings, piers, or other foundation walls and anchorage systems required to support a building.
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Q. On what basis are losses paid under the two flood policies?
A. Losses are paid on an actual cash value basis with exceptions:
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Replacement cost coverage will apply to a single-family dwelling which is the principal residence of the insured, and which, at the time of the loss, carries an amount of insurance equal to 80% or more of the replacement cost of the dwelling, or is the maximum amount of insurance available under the National Flood Insurance Program, whichever is lower;
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Replacement cost coverage will also apply to the building coverage in a Residential Condominium Building Association Policy (RCBAP).
Q. Would carpeting in a single-family dwelling be eligible for replacement cost coverage?
A. No. Carpeting is always depreciated along with outdoor antennas and aerials, awnings, appliances and other outdoor equipment.
Q. How does the Other Insurance clause apply in each policy?
A. The Other Insurance clause reads as follows:
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If a loss covered by this policy is also covered by other insurance that includes flood coverage not issued under the Act, we will not pay more than the amount of insurance that you are entitled to for lost, damaged, or destroyed property insured under this policy subject to the following:
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We will pay only the proportion of the loss that the amount of insurance that applies under this policy bears to the total amount of insurance covering the loss, unless C.1.b. or c. immediately below applies.
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If the other policy has a provision stating that it is excess insurance, this policy will be primary.
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This policy will be primary (but subject to its own deductible) up to the deductible in the other flood policy (except another policy as described in C.1.b. above). When the other deductible amount is reached, this policy will participate in the same proportion that the amount of insurance under this policy bears to the total amount of both policies, for the remainder of the loss.
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If there is other insurance in the name of your condominium association covering the same property covered by this policy, then this policy will be in excess over the other insurance.
Q. What is the deductible in the flood policies?
A. There are two standard deductibles. For Pre-FIRM risks in all special flood hazard areas (all A and V zones) the deductible is $1000, with a buyback provision to $500.
For all Post-FIRM risks, and risks in B, C, D and X zones, the deductible is $500.
An additional deductible of $250 is added if the loss is land subsidence, sewer backup or water seepage.
Optional deductibles of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 are available.
Q. Under the Dwelling contents coverage, are any classes of personal property subject to limitations?
A. Yes. The policy states:
Special Limits. We will pay no more than $2,500 for any one loss to one or more of the following kinds of personal property:
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Artwork, photographs, collectibles, or memorabilia, including but not limited to, porcelain or other figures, and sports cards;
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Rare books or autographed items;
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Jewelry, watches, precious and semiprecious stones, or articles of gold, silver, or platinum;
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Furs or any article containing fur which represents its principal value; or
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Personal property used in any business.
Q. Are improvements and betterments of a tenant covered under the flood policies?
A. Yes. Up to 10% of the amount of contents coverage may be applied to damage to improvements, alterations, additions and betterments.
Q. Are additions and alterations of a condominium unit owner covered under a flood policy?
A. Yes. They are actually covered in three ways:
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In the Residential Condominium Building Association Policy under Coverage A - Building Property which insures:
“The residential condominium building described on the Declarations Page at the described location, including all units within the building and the improvements within the units.”
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In the Dwelling Form:
“If you are the owner of a unit and have insured personal property under Coverage B in this policy, we will also cover your interior walls, floor and ceiling (not otherwise covered under a flood insurance policy purchased by your condominium association) for not more than 10 percent of the limit of liability shown for personal property on the declarations page.”
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In the General Property Policy:
“If you are a condominium unit owner, you may apply up to 10 percent of the Coverage B limit to cover loss to interior:
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Walls;
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Floors; and
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Ceilings, that are not covered under a policy issued to the condominium association insuring the condominium building.” Continued next page…
Special Note: In the event of a residential loss involving both the association and the unit owner policies, the unit owner may not benefit to a greater amount than the maximum NFIP insurance available to a single-family dwelling owner; i.e., $35,000 in the Emergency Program and $250,000 in the Regular Program. The deductible in each unit owner’s policy will separately apply to the loss paid on behalf of each unit owner, and the deductible in the association building policy will also apply. A condominium association in the Emergency Program is not eligible for the RCBAP. It would require the General Property Form.
Q. When there is a condominium association building policy, and separate unit owner building policies on a condominium structure, if there is damage to both common elements and additions and alterations, how do the policies respond to the losses?
A. The association RCBAP would first apply to the common elements and then to the additions and alterations. When the RCBAP is exhausted (and with the 80% coinsurance requirement we would hope that would never happen), the separate unit owner policies would apply to the remaining insurable interests of the respective unit owners. Said another way, the condominium association policy is primary; the unit owner policy is excess.
Q. What are the eligibility requirements for an RCBAP and the limits of Building and Personal Property insurance available?
A. To write an RCBAP, the condominium association must be located in a Regular Program community and must have at least 75% of its total floor area within the building as residential, regardless of the number of units or floors.
The maximum amount of building coverage that can be purchased is the Replacement Cost Value of the building or the total number of units times $250,000, whichever is less. The maximum allowable contents coverage is the Actual Cash Value of the commonly owned contents up to a maximum of $100,000 per building. Be aware that the RCBAP is the only flood policy that has a coinsurance clause. To avoid penalty, it requires that the insured purchase an amount of building insurance equal to the lesser of 80 percent or more of the full replacement cost of the building at the time of loss or the maximum amount of insurance available under the NFIP.
Q. Does the National Flood Insurance Program afford loss assessment coverage to condominium unit owners?
3. Condominium Loss Assessments
a. If this policy insures a unit, we will pay, up to the Coverage A limit of liability, your share of loss assessments charged against you by the condominium association in accordance with the condominium association’s articles of association, declarations and your deed. The assessment must be made as a result of direct physical loss by or from flood during the policy term, to the building’s common elements.
b. We will not pay any loss assessment charged against you:
(1) And the condominium association by any governmental body;
(2) That results from a deductible under the insurance purchased by the condominium association insuring common elements;
(3) That results from a loss to personal property, including contents of a condominium building;
(4) That results from a loss sustained by the condominium association that was not reimbursed under a flood insurance policy written in the name of the association under the Act because the building was not, at the time of loss, insured for an amount equal to the lesser of:
(a) 80 percent or more of its full replacement cost; or
(b) The maximum amount of insurance permitted under the Act;
(5) To the extent that payment under this policy for a condominium building loss, in combination with payments under any other NFIP policies for the same building loss, exceeds the maximum amount of insurance permitted under the Act for that kind of building; or
(6) To the extent that payment under this policy for a condominium building loss, in combination with any recovery available to you as a tenant in common under any NFIP condominium association policies for the same building loss, exceeds the amount of insurance permitted under the Act for a single-family dwelling. Loss assessment coverage does not increase the Coverage A limit of liability.
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A. Yes. It is provided in the Dwelling Form, as follows:
Q. Is Ordinance or Law Coverage provided in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)?
A. No, but a “form” of that coverage entitled Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) is available with a maximum limit of liability of $20,000 in all three NFIP contracts.
Q. What does Increased Cost of Compliance do, and how does it differ from Ordinance or Law Coverage?
A. The manual definition of Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) is:
“Coverage for expenses that a property owner must incur, above and beyond the cost to repair the physical damage the structure actually sustained from a flooding event, to comply with mitigation requirements of State or local floodplain management ordinances or laws.”
In other words, it will pay for complying with a State or local floodplain management law or ordinance affecting repair or reconstruction of a structure suffering flood damage, so long as there is such a State or local law or ordinance. The only compliance activities eligible for payment, however, are: elevation, flood— proofing, relocation or demolition (or any combination of these activities)
Q. Is ICC coverage available for all properties?
A. No. It is not available for:
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Policies issued or renewed in the Emergency Program
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Condominium units. (The condominium association is responsible for complying with mitigation requirements.)
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Group Flood Insurance Policies
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Appurtenant structures, unless covered by a separate policy.
Q. Are there special eligibility requirements?
A. Yes, and they can be significant, requiring the special attention of not only the flood adjusters but the local community authorities. To be eligible for claim payment under ICC, a structure must:
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Be a repetitive loss structure as defined in the policy, for which NFIP paid a previous qualifying claim, in addition to the current claim.
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The state or community in which the property is located must have a cumulative, substantial damage provision or repetitive loss provision in its floodplain management law or ordinance being enforced against the structure.
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Be a structure that has sustained substantial flood damage.
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