Few Cullman residents have flood insurance

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January 10, 2009

By Trent Moore The Cullman Times Sat Jan 10, 2009, 07:55 PM CST

Even after recent flooding in Cullman County due to heavy rainfall, insurance agent Kim Hale said her office has received hardly any inquiries about flood insurance.

“I don’t think we’ve gotten many calls,” she said. “I haven’t heard of anyone calling and asking much about it. You’d think more people would, though.”

Hale — a 17-year insurance veteran with the Hale-Griggs Agency — said of all the different types of policies written from her office, flood insurance is one of the least sought.

“We do write a little bit, but really not a lot,” she said. “But, we do offer it.”

Hale speculated that very few Cullman residents have flood insurance.

“We have, probably around 550 homeowners insurance policies,” she said. “Out of that, maybe 10 have flood policies, as well ... Probably not many people have it, like they need.”

Judie Hubbard, an agent with the Knight-Free Insurance Agency, said flood policies at her agency also account for only a small amount of policies sold.

“We don’t sell a lot of it,” she said.

Hubbard attributed the lack of local flood policies to the fact that most Cullman residents are not at an extremely high risk for flooding.

“Typically I don’t think Cullman really has a lot of areas prone to floods,” she said. “The everyday person is probably not in an area zoned for floods.”

Hale noted that flood insurance is not included with most average home insurance policies, a fact many may not realize.

“For flood insurance, you have to take out a separate policy,” she said. “That’s where most people miss it — they don’t know it’s a separate policy.”

According to the National Flood Insurance Program Web site FloodSmart.gov, the average cost for a flood insurance policy is $500 per year — though some low-to-moderate risk areas may be eligible for a policy with a premium as low as $119 a year.

The Web site also notes that just two inches of water can cause as much as $7,800 in damage.

Hale said her office had not received many insurance claims caused by the recent flooding, though one customer who did call was not covered.

“We did have one family call (with some damage), but they didn’t have flood insurance, so there wasn’t much we could do,” she said. “Of course, those recent rains were some of the worst we’ve had in while.”

No matter where a house is located, Hubbard said virtually anyone is capable of getting flood insurance.

“It’s essentially available to anyone,” she said.

More information about flood insurance, as well as a “Flood Risk Profile” — which can estimate how likely an area is to flood — can be found at the http://www.floodsmart.gov Web site.

‰ Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.

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Few Cullman residents have flood insurance

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