What are the Most Likely and Costly Perils in Your Neighborhood?

Here's an interesting page that will give you the top 5 most common and costliest claim types by zip code.  You can simply type in your zip code, and it will give you a list of the claim types, avg cost per claim, etc...  It's a good resource if you're trying to make sure you have the right coverage and limits in place.  Not only can you see the most likely perils to cause damage to your property and resources, but you can see how much they typically cost.

http://www.allstate.com/landingpages/common_and_costly_claims.aspx

Obviously, places like North Texas - McKinney, Allen, Plano and Frisco - have a high rate of costly wind and hail damage.  Areas near the Texas coast seem to have more wind and water damage.  While, Central Texas seems to have relatively less costly claims activity. 

Why get flood insurance?

Spring starts the rainy season in Texas.  We often see tropical storms and hurricanes hit the gulf coast areas, as well as strong wind and hail storms in North Texas.  Many people feel safe from floods living in the Dallas Metroplex because we don't see a lot of flooding, and because we're located so far from the coast.  Yet, flood insurance can be a great protection against damage to your most valuable asset - your home.

According to FEMA, although only 20% of all US homeowners at risk of flooding have flood insurance, 96% have fire insurance.  Yet, people living in a typical flood plain have a 26% chance of flooding over the 30-year life of a mortgage, while only 9% will experience a fire.  (http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/reports/FEMA3.html)

A lot of people assume that their standard homeowners insurance covers floods from storms, but it doesn't.  You must purchase flood insurance typically underwritten by FEMA to provide coverage against storm flooding.  The federal government has a great resource for information at http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/