The problem is: If your basement floods, your flood insurance policy likely won't cover damages to most — if any — of your belongings.
What is flood insurance?
To that point, 99% of U.S. counties have experienced a flood since 1998 — and more than 40% of flood insurance claims are from outside high-risk flood areas, according to FEMA.
Most people who have flood insurance get it through the federal government, via FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, experts said.
Consumers concerned about flood risk and insurance coverage should consider not putting their stuff in a basement, if possible, Kochenburger said.
Persons:
Johnson, Jessica Rinaldi, Peter Kochenburger, Eric Thayer, Kochenburger, NFIP, Don Griffin, it'd, Griffin, Policyholders
Organizations:
Boston Globe, Getty, Southern University Law Center, Insurance, FEMA, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Flood Insurance, Bloomberg, Consumers, American, Casualty Insurance Association, Census, Southern University Law
Locations:
Vermont, United States, U.S, Whittier , California, freezers