Flood Insurance in The Villages?
 

I will be in September a new Citizen of The Villages. My question is, how important is it to have flood insurance incorporated into a new policy? THANKS

There are several posts about this here on TOTV so just search to get all the opinions. But the high level is, the Villages has one of the best water management systems in the country so unless you live near a body of water, or you are in a flood zone, you probably don't need flood insurance here in the Villages. We did a survey recently to see how many homeowners used flood and or sink hole insurance here in the Villages and no one responded. It's entirely up to your tolerance for risk and the risk here is very low.

Sinkhole insurance - yes
Flood insurance - no

Some new areas are still mapping as 100 year flood zone. Your mortgage company may require you to buy flood insurance until the mapping is revised.

Our property was never listed in flood zone map, however 4 months ago, a company was behind our house surveying the property to change to flood zone.
Guys very polite, explained why they were there. Couldn’t tell us who ordered the report.
All three agreed after the survey, it would need to be biblical rainfall to rise 11.7’ above 20+ acres of dry prairie floor. Plus the 2 foot rise of our property.

You are not likely to experience what most people think of as a flood. The Villages does a great job at stormwater management to keep houses safe.

However, what I think of as a flood and what an insurance company considers to be flood damage could be two separate things. Talk with your agent about what is excluded and determine whether you need a separate flood policy to cover those hazards.

Also, if you have a mortgage then the bank might have an opinion on this.

I have neither a mortgage nor a flood policy.

Most of the so called sinkholes I've seen here are storm water pipe failures which sinkhole insurance does not cover.

Flood insurance is managed by the Federal Government, FEMA. Here is the website for infomation about flood insurance:

https://www.nfipdirect.fema.gov/login

In my experience, asking an insurance agent about any insurance coverage is likely to get you incorrect information. And, they will never put anything about coverage in writing. Insurance "agents" do not legally represent the company or, in this case, the Government. They are basically salespeople who work for a commission.

Don't have flood insurance. Been here four years. We had 8 inches of rain overnight last year with Milton. There are several ponds in my neighborhood. The water level in all of them increased but not one of them flooded over the banks. I think we could have easily had another six inches of rain without any flooding of houses.

I'm certainly in the minority here, but I have Flood Insurance through a private company, not FEMA. For the few hundred dollars it costs, with coverage for the full value of the house and contents (not the FEMA maximum), it's worth peace of mind.

Back in 2016 during hurricane Irma we had 18 inches of rain in 24 hours and no homes were flooded. Just some of the golf courses were out of comission for about a month. We have no storm surge here so we just need to be concerned with the storm water management which is one of the best in the country here in the Villages. We are living in one of the safest places in the country here in the Villages. Yes we can get small tornados but we are not in a valley, or have any rivers or creeks to overflow and we are too far away from the shore for storm surge. When we have hurricanes, when they hit land there is no energy to keep them going so by the time they get here they are usually no stronger than Cat1. Infact, I think it was 2016 where a Cat1 hurricane came over the Villages. All that said, if you want to get all that insurance, go for it but there is a high probablility that you will never use it.

It's fine that you want flood insurance for peace of mind but since the coverage is so cheap, the insurance company feels its a very low possibility that you will be using it. For the folks in Tampa or near the sure, flood insurance is in the thousands of dollars.

Look and see what flood zone your new home will be in. I suspect it will not be in one that is likely to flood.

We moved into our new Villages home last year in September and where lucky enough to have back to back hurricane's. These homes are built to take the tropical winds the center of the state will receive, flooding is a non event.

So unless your on a retention pond, or lake, I would not think it is necessary.

Flooding
 

YOU ARE MISTAKEN. There was extensive flooding on the north side of TV. The golf cart bridge was flooded along with several homes from Irma. Also, there was flooding in some neighborhoods in the south end of TV from Milton.

Depends on where in TV. The new Eastport area is pretty much all “flood plain”, flat.
Go north of Brownwood, much of TV is at least a little hilly, would be really tough to flood area.
Sink holes, it could happen, but unlikely.
Flood insurance thru FEMA or a no name company. I picked FEMA, $1,400 a year. The no name could ‘run out of funds’ in a heart beat.
My neighbor used Lloyds for a much better rate, which I will call next renewal. As it will take a while for our Eastport area to be reevaluated to hopefully be taken off as a flood zone.
Sink hole catastrophic coverage was included in our USAA policy. Meaning the house went down. What was not covered was a partial collapse, house can be rebuilt. That coverage was about $240 a year.
Of course rebuildable sink hole coverage has a big deductible, about $40k.

If wind damage causes a house to be damaged and water gets into the house, flood insurance will not cover it. Flood insurance will only cover damage caused by rising water. Rising water can be caused by excessive rainfall or a stormwater drain backup.

Note that, you can buy a rider to your homeowner's policy to cover damage from a sanitary sewer backup, which is not covered by flood insurance. The rider is usually a good idea.

Check FEMA flood maps. Mortgage companies will require flood insurance if you are in a FEMA flood zone. The maps are redone every 3-5 years so the newer areas show it as open land and a flood zone but once it is redone it will show the drainage improvements and most likely take the area out if a flood zone.

FEMA Flood Map Service Center | Search By Address

for the most part don't bother, and you don't need hurricane either.... might consider sink hole though....

The Villages allege that none of their homes sold are in flood zones. Hold them to it.

You are right there were a couple of homes in the North end that had some damage but that has all been taken care of according to the Villages when I went to the Academy course. There were tunnels and golf courses and other places flooded but what we are talking about is your home getting damage due to rising waters from the street or around your home, comming into your home and causing damage that flood insurance will cover. Fortunately, we have sandy soil as well. Gold Wingnut has a good Youtube video of exactly what happened during Irma so you can see for yourself.

Getting flood insurance, unless you need it for a mortgage, is an individual choice but the Villages is a very safe place to live in regards to storm flooding since we have and they continue to expand one of the best storm water management systems in the country.

As one person said, any other water damage due to the storm except from rising water, is covered under your homeowner's insurance. And I agree, the sewer rider is always good extra coverage to get.

If you’re locating in a flood plain or live near a retention pond that is NOT part of TV water control system (example: north of 441 and some older parts).

Personally, I have every coverage you can think of except flood insurance. She explained to me that The Villages has a very, very good flood control system, and that flood insurance in our case would not be necessary. Be very careful when it comes to flood insurance purchasing because flood insurance only takes affect if your streets become completely overwhelmed like a river and water comes gushing into your house from the street. It does not cover sewer back ups that come into your house. That is a different insurance.. she also explained to me that she has personally never had to issue a claim for flood insurance in The Villages.

Flood Insurance cover more than flood by act of nature, it also covers certain waster damage caused by street water back wash and other house problem. Read the fine print.

You need to know what your flood zone you might be in. If you have a mortgage they will require it. Here in the Villages it is not likely that your house would flood. That said after over 20 years of handling Flood Claims I have seen homes not in a flood zone or near any water get flooded. Storm drains can clog and streets can easily flood.
Check the cost of flood insurance. Since it is a Federal Program the price is the same no matter who you buy it from. It’s all based on Elevation and Flood Zone. From a customer service view point I would not go through FEMA. I would purchase from any insurance company that sells it such as Hartford, Allstate, State Farm etc.

Flood insurance will cover rising water from the storm drain, but not from the sanitary sewer drain.

Flood insurance is purchased thru FEMA. Not a lot of money for what used to be peace of mind. Not sure what to expect from FEMA under current administration.

We purchased a house in DeLuna several months ago. I later found out that there had been some flooding with hurricane Milton last year - street flooding that made it up driveways, but I don't think got into any homes. We purchased flood insurance from Neptune for about $900.

Have you seen this here in the Villages? Because you are correct in your recommendation but we are specifically talking about the Villages.

This is what we came up with after some research:
Sinkhole insurance - no
Flood insurance - no
Termites - no

Yes, we had 17 inches of rain with Irma and very few if any homes flooded. What if we had 55 inches of rain over 4 days like they had in Houston a few years ago? Thousands of homes would be flooded here, don't kid yourself. If you don't have budgetary restrictions, flood insurance makes a lot of sense here, in my humble opinion. (Florida resident since 1984)

They got that 55 inches of rain because of the rivers and creeks and the geography in Houston.

Highest Monthly Rain EVER in FLorida = 31 inches
 

55 inches of rain in The Villages is extremely unlikely. Sumter County maximum monthly rain is not available. However, the wettest month in for a weather reporting station I could find was 30.9 inches .

You had 17 inches in Irma we had 11. Our pond was still within the pond banks.

For me, I investigated the rain flow paths from my house and got elevations along the way. We are above the 100 yr flood elevation and have a clear drainage path from the retention pond overflow through a wetlands with outlet under Morse to Lake Deaton and beyond. For me, I do not have flood insurance.

As pointed out above by JREF, we have no rivers etc. that can empty into the Villages rainwater system. I only found outlets down to Hogeye Path and beyond.

Check out your specific location and the flood zone maps.

Good Luck to all of us!

Agreed, when you look at these areas that got flooded like in North Carolina for example, they were originally in flood plains near rivers, creeks and other bodies of water but because the last major flood occurred 90 or 100 years ago, its not a memory event so builders build in areas they shouldn't and municipalities don't have adequate storm management when that rare storm occurs.

As far as flash floods in NY and NJ, that's just poor storm water management systems. In NY, much of their drainage systems are from the 1920's.

Fortunately, we don't have that situation here in the Villages.

Your physical location will be the determining factor. Go to FEMA and look at the flood maps. If your homes is in a section on the map that you or you bank is uncomfortable with then the answer is YES.

In the north end of town where I live, not at all. We are engineered for storm water control and it works. All the rain during hurricane Irma, and it never came close to the house.