Your basement is flooded and you believe you have flood insurance, but some homeowners are finding out they’ve been left high and dry.
Pat Fichter in Lake Country found that out the hard way after her basement flooded from ground water.
“If it comes through the windows or doors, I’m covered. But because it’s ground water rising, ground water is not covered,” Fichter said.
Grant Whitehill’s home of Lake Country is also flooded, but he is covered.
“You have to have the overland flood optional coverage to actually have flood coverage. And fortunately for me I purchased it,” Foothill said.
The fact of the matter is, a lot of homeowners don’t have flood insurance because it’s so new.
“Flood insurance from a homeowner’s perspective is fairly new. It’s a new product for Canada that spurred out of the Calgary floods,” Jason Bond of Capri Insurance said.
But there is no flood insurance available if the source of the water comes from under the ground — from the water table.
“Mostly because insurance companies feel that it’s a design flaw or if they knew the water table was too close to their building. They should have designed their building differently,” Bond said.
Kelowna lawyer Paul Johnson deals with insurance cases on a regular basis. He says if your insurance company balks and the claim is headed to court, the insurance companies will usually try to settle before it gets there.
“Lots of times that’s the way it works. So if you’ve got a good claim and you want to sue, usually steps in litigation will happen and insurance companies will want to stop the bleeding and try to settle out of court. Judges typically don’t like seeing insurance companies unreasonably refusing coverage on policies that are legitimate,” Johnson said.
Flood insurance is not cheap. If you live near water, it can nearly double the price of your current policy.
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