Delaware Flood Insurance
(Quotes, Cost & Coverage)
Get Delaware flood insurance quotes, cost & coverage fast with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Keep your DE home and property protected from flood damage.
DE Flood Insurance
When it comes to Delaware flood insurance and your condo, renters and homeowners insurance there are some important points to keep in mind.
A common question is, "I already have DE homeowners, renters or condo insurance - am I already covered?" The simple answer No. It is important to be aware that a standard homeowners, condo or renters policy does not cover damages resulting from a flood.
Homeowners, condo and renters insurance typically cover dwelling damage that comes from the top down; like as rain and wind damage, or originates inside like fire or burst pipes - but it doesn't cover rising water and flooding. This is why you might want to consider purchasing a Delaware flood insurance policy.
There may be a waiting period for your DE flood policy to take effect. For example, there is a 30-day waiting period for National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) flood insurance policies to become effective. This is why you can't wait until you see a big storm on the weather channel, or wait until hurricane season to buy flood insurance for you home, apartment or condo.
Next, a "flood" is generally defined as "a 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:
- overflow of inland or tidal waters, or...
- unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source, or...
- mudflow or collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves, or...
- currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in a flood as defined above.
Do You Need Flood Insurance?
Now, in case you think that Delaware flood insurance is only for homes that are on or near the water, that's not necessarily the case. For example, even if you live several miles away from water flood waters can still reach your home, as happened during hurricane Sandy. In fact, nearly 25% of flood insurance claims are paid on policies in low-to-moderate-risk areas.
What's more, it's not always a major body of water, or even a major storm, that causes a flood. Things like a broken sewer line to a slow moving rainstorm can cause flooding. Furthermore, experts say your home has a 26% chance of being damaged by a flood over the life of a 30-year mortgage.
Your mortgage company may require you to get DE flood insurance if you live in a high-risk area, and this extra expense often surprises home buyers.
If you own a DE business, you can learn about Delaware commercial flood insurance.
How Much Does Delaware Flood Insurance Cost?
How much does Delaware flood insurance cost? This is the question most on people's mind when they are shopping for a flood policy. Because flood insurance is not a one size fits all, and there are many factors that are taken into consideration in your premiums - the easiest way to get flood insurance rates is to contact an agent to discuss your situation. Then you can get an accurate flood insurance quote to see the cost.
Below are some of the main factors that make up the cost of Delaware flood insurance for your apartment, condo or home:
- Your DE property's flood risk - what flood zone you are in. More risk = higher premiums, less risk = lower premiums.
- How much coverage you need. More coverage = higher premiums, less coverage = lower premiums.
Read more on the Delaware Department of Insurance Flood Insurance page. You can also look up your flood zone at: FEMA Flood Map Service Center: Search By Address.
How Can I Buy Delaware Flood Insurance?
Although flood insurance has only been available to homeowners or renters through the NFIP, it is now available through private insurers, including surplus lines insurers. This means more options when you are shopping for flood insurance.
When buying flood insurance, it is important to consider the kind of coverage you need. There are limits to these policies - the highest amount your policy will pay for a covered loss. If you have damage or losses over the amount of your policy limit, you are responsible for those costs.
Insurance companies write different types of flood insurance policies including dwelling - the structure of your home - up to $250,000, and its contents - your personal property within the dwelling - up to $100,000.
If you want to cover your dwelling and property for more than the NFIP's maximum limits, you may be eligible to purchase additional coverage known as an excess flood insurance policy.
DE Flood Insurance Quotes
Request a Delaware Flood Insurance quote in Arden, Ardencroft, Ardentown, Bellefonte, Bethany Beach, Blades, Bowers, Bridgeville, Camden, Cheswold, Clayton, Dagsboro, Delaware City, Delmar, Dewey Beach, Dover, Ellendale, Elsmere, Felton, Fenwick Island, Frankford, Frederica, Georgetown, Greenwood, Harrington, Houston, Kenton, Laurel, Lewes, Little Creek, Magnolia, Middletown, Milford, Millsboro, Millville, Milton, New Castle, Newark, Newport, Ocean View, Odessa, Rehoboth Beach, Seaford, Selbyville, Slaughter Beach, Smyrna, South Bethany, Townsend, Wilmington, Wyoming and all other cities in DE.
Delaware Insurance Regulations
In the state of Delaware, there are certain regulations that are applicable to both personal and commercial insurance. There are actually tens of thousands of individual regulations, governing everything from the amount of assets or cash an insurance company must have per policy to how insurance companies can advertise, but the list of regulations that you need to know about is thankfully a lot smaller.
DE Commercial Insurance
Commercial insurance, also known as general liability insurance, protects a business and their customers in a variety of ways. One form of general liability coverage is bodily insurance which is physical damage to anyone on your premises other than employees.
Employees are covered under another type of insurance called Worker's Compensation. In addition, general liability can cover properly damage, protect you from personal injury suits, advertising injuries and provide legal defense and payment for judgments.
Delaware is not one of the states where commercial insurance is required to operate a business. Delaware is a modified comparative fault state with a 51% negligence standard. There are no caps on awards for personal injury suits in Delaware and the statute of limitations for filing after something happens is two years.
As for how much insurance you should carry in Delaware, there is no clear answer. The best thing to do is to research the type of business you have and what kinds of lawsuits are possible, as well as what the payouts for those lawsuits usually turns out to be, so that you can see how much liability coverage you should carry.
Delaware Personal Insurance
There are a few different types of personal insurance available for consumers, but the only one that has any sort of regulation that you need to know about is auto insurance. There are laws in place governing how much liability insurance you are required to carry in Delaware. However, there are no regulations that consumers need to be aware of when it comes to life insurance, flood insurance or various other types of available insurance.
As for the auto insurance regulations, the state of Delaware requires you to carry auto insurance that pays as a result of an accident that was your fault. The limits are known as $15,000/$30,000/$10,000. That means that you are required to have $15,000 per person or $30,000 per accident in your auto insurance coverage. You will also need to have an additional $10,000 for property damage.
If you are looking for state specific flood insurance quotes, costs and information: California Flood Insurance, Colorado Flood Insurance, Delaware Flood Insurance, Florida Flood Insurance, Illinois Flood Insurance, Kentucky Flood Insurance, New Jersey Flood Insurance, New York Flood Insurance, Oregon Flood Insurance, Pennsylvania Flood Insurance, Texas Flood Insurance, Washigton Flood Insurance.
More Information on Flood Insurance
Floods can happen suddenly and can do tremendous amounts of damage. Following is some more useful information about flood insurance polices: