With The Wild Weather, What You Need To Know About Flooding
Brian O Sutter
Traffic Accidents
Melting snow, unusual rain patterns following months of drought, bad luck, there are many reasons you can find yourself underwater after a flood environment. Many times these unfortunate circumstances are created from uncontrollable inconveniences. It is hard to anticipate and prepare for severe weather or other natural disasters. Florida is right in the danger zone for hurricanes and that severe weather pattern tends to leave a trail of devastation, almost always including flooding. There are some steps to take to guarantee your home will be restored and there will be compensation for you and your family if possible. What To Do Right After A Flood
Homeowner's insurance is an underappreciated lifesaver in situations like property damage. Including renter's insurance this is how you cover damages to your property or lost or stolen items. When your circumstances couldn't get any worse, don't let them, be insured. You should call your insurance agent to file a claim as soon as you can. If it is a natural phenomenon that has caused the flooding and damages they will be busy fielding calls. However, in severe cases many insurance companies are prepared and staff accordingly.
Following insurance claims they will want to assess the damage, we want to reiterate that you should try and determine the structure damage and it's safety before you enter your home. Severe weather can lead to a weak structure and potentially collapse. Take photos of the damage as soon as it is safe for you to do so, in order to document what happened and hep your insurance adjuster get all the information they need.
When you are able to, starting a list of lost and damaged items will also move the insurance process along nicely and hopefully alleviate some of the added stress of a difficult situation. If items are damaged to the point they need to be thrown out make sure you document their damage with photographs. After this you can begin to clean up if conditions permit you to do so safely.
Getting Compensated For A Flood
In any type of flood the insurance route will be the most important thing to check into as soon as possible. The situation in which consulting a lawyer becomes necessary will need to have a few things fall into place to need us. Let's say your specific policy didn't cover water damage but the water damage came from a neighbors apartment or house and was there fault. The first option in this scenario would be the neighbor's insurance. If their home policy if their home policy has the proper coverage to pay for the damages that is possible. Let's say their insurance doesn't cover water damage either. There may be some time of passing the blame or repair costs around but if it comes to court case, it is still the neighbor's responsibility to pay for the damages when it is their fault.
This type of matter is for a small claims court and shouldn't be too much of a hassle –other than not being able to get the insurance coverage- if the neighbor is at fault. The only time it could become a more intensive court battle is when the flooding was the result of something malicious the neighbor was doing, something intentional. This scenario moves their actions into a criminal case and could require further representation. A malicious scenario adds emotional damages for not being or feeling safe in your on home to the mix on top of the costs of what the water had done to your home or apartment.
Looking into the intricacies of your home insurance policy and making sure you will be safe in any likely damaging scenarios is the smartest course of action. As attorneys we are here to help but genuinely wish to keep you out of these stressful situations in the first place.