On the evening of September 22nd a storm tracked across the Ames area causing flash flooding across the city. As a result, many Ames residents and businesses experienced water in their basement damaging floors, walls and the contents of their homes and businesses.
As clean up began and the damage assessed, many of our clients called in to our office asking “is this covered on my policy?” Water damage, whether it is from pipes, sewers, sumps, or floods, is one of the risks where it pays to know your limits and what is and is not covered.
The storm on September 22nd caused many sump pumps to fail or the pumps were unable to handle the heavy volume of water during the storm. Sewers and drains also backed-up due to the amount of rain water.
Homeowner and Businessowner policies specifically exclude water that overflows from sump pumps or water that backs-up through sewer or drains. The good news is you can buy the coverage back in the form of an endorsement on your policy. It is called the Water Back-up and Sump Discharge or Overflow endorsement. It’s important to note that coverage is typically limited with common limits being $5,000 to $25,000. Some insurance companies offer higher limits. There is generally a cost to add this coverage to your policy. However, the premium pales in comparison to the cost of repairing or replacing items damaged by water.
Don’t wait until the next storm to check your policy. If you have questions or would like one of our agents to review your coverage to verify that you have the proper coverages please give us a call. Call before it rains…..and rains…..and rains!
