The National Flood Insurance Program & Why You Need It

Although you may not live in a designated flood plain, chances are you still need a flood insurance policy.

Two days after my husband I moved into our 1898 Victorian in Minneapolis, it flooded. Kids were surfing on Emerson Avenue. It was a freak rainstorm. Water poured down the chimney, broke through our basement windows.

I thought, "What are the odds?" Because 15 years earlier I had survived another flood disaster. My home on the Rincon in Ventura, CA, fell into the ocean. I didn't expect it then, either, but I should have because at least I lived on the ocean where these things happen. One doesn't expect to get flooded downtown Minneapolis.

It's strange what you think about saving. In 1981, when the ocean waves rose to pound my house in Ventura, I grabbed my IBM typewriter, along with my guitar, photo albums, jewelry and furs. But I couldn't find my cat. And the fire department would not let me back inside the house to find him, regardless of how much I screamed and pounded on the fire chief's chest. He said pets have a way of surviving . . . read more

More Articles by Elizabeth Weintraub, click below:

• How to Spot a Wet Basement
  
• Material Facts & Seller Disclosures
  
• Home Improvement Mistakes

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