Does Home Insurance Cover Flood Damage?

• Does house insurance cover flood damage?
• What does home insurance cover?
• Can you get flood insurance if you live in a flood-risk area?
• What to do when your home floods
• Get in touch

Flooding can have devastating effects on your local area, property, and possessions. When disaster strikes, a quick, effective response by professionals is critical to restore your home to safe condition and get things back to normal. 

Here at ICE Cleaning, we offer our flood damage cleaning services nationwide. Our technicians can make your property to a dry, sanitary space. If it's an emergency, we can be on site within a matter of hours. 

Keep reading to find out whether home insurance covers flooding.

Does house insurance cover flood damage?

Flood insurance is normally included as a part of a standard home insurance policy. It protects you from damage and loss that is caused by flood water entering your property from an external source. A claim can pay out for the necessary repairs to your home and to replace destroyed possessions. 

To make sure you are covered in the event of a flood, check the details of your policy closely or contact your provider to confirm whether flood insurance is included. If you are not covered, speak to your provider about getting extra coverage or find an alternative provider who offers flood insurance.

What does home insurance cover?

Contents Insurance: This covers the things inside your house and should help replace or repair possessions damaged or destroyed by the flood.

Buildings Insurance: This concerns the structure of your property, and covers repairs and rebuilding efforts. 

Some insurers might not cover damage from rising groundwater levels, so make sure you read the fine print. You can find out more about flood insurance here. 

Can you get flood insurance if you live in a flood-risk area?

One in six people in England currently live in areas that are at risk of flooding. If you live in a flood-risk area or you have experienced flooding before, you should have insurance in place to protect yourself against it. 

Even if there is a high risk of flooding where you live, you should be able to get affordable home insurance. So, if you do live in a high-risk area, the insurer can cede flood cover to Flood Re, a government-backed scheme that will pay out when a flood claim is made. 

Only certain properties can benefit from Flood Re, however. If you own a commercial property, a property built before January 2009, or blocks of more than three residential flats, you cannot use it. 

If you're eligible for Floor Re cover, all you have to do is buy insurance from an insurer that participates in the industry levy. Although many participate in Flood Re, you should still check your quotes include flood insurance to make sure you are covered. You can find out more about the industry levy here.

What to do when your home floods

If there is a flood warning for your area, turn off the gas, electricity, and water supplies. Then move loved ones, vehicles, pets, and valuable possessions to safety, like higher ground or upstairs. Make sure you put flood protection products in place, as well, to limit the amount of flood water that can enter your home. 

Should you have a flood plan, follow it. Once the emergency services have confirmed it is safe to return home you can go back to your property. Don't go back in unless the electricity has been turned off at the fuse box. If not, you must bring in a professional to ensure sure the fuse box and meter are safe. 

Water will then need to be pumped from the property and the building dried out. This will require swift action by professionals with specialist equipment. Flood damage cleaners will need to be brought in to disinfect your home after the flood, too. Although tempting, you must leave flood restoration to professionals as it can be a dangerous, time-consuming task that needs specialist tools and cleaning agents.

Mould can start growing within 24 to 48 hours, so you must bring in flood damage professionals as soon as possible to prevent this harmful fungus growing. 

Make sure you document plenty of evidence of the flooding for when you make a flood damage home insurance claim. Take pictures of all damaged areas and items, and make notes. You can find out more about what to do when a flood occurs in this blog. 

Get in touch

Our flood restoration experts are available day and night, 365 days a year, including bank holidays. If it's an emergency, they can be on site within several hours of your call. We also offer a number of related services that you may require, like mould remediation and damp odour removal. 

To book our technicians for flood damage cleaning, get in touch with our team on 0208 066 0360 or via enquiries@icecleaning.co.uk. They will be happy to book your free site survey and give you a no-obligation quote.