Houston, Texas Flood Damage Attorneys

Does Homeowners’ Insurance Cover Flood Damage?

Purchasing homeowners’ insurance doesn’t necessarily mean that you also have purchased flood damage insurance. In many cases, flood damage insurance is not bundled into a standard homeowners’ insurance policy. If you aren’t sure if you’re covered, let our attorneys review your policy. You may need to purchase a separate flood damage policy if it is not part of your homeowners’ insurance or business owners’ insurance.

Additionally, you can purchase a separate flood damage insurance policy even if this coverage is part of your standard policy. If your home is damaged by a flood or floodwaters, we can review your policies to see if you can get coverage from both. It might be possible to be fully covered for even vast amounts of flood damage costs in this way.

What Does Flood Damage Insurance Cover?

Typically, a flood damage insurance policy will pay for:

• Damage to the structure and foundation of your home or business, as well as any built-in pieces of equipment like industrial kitchen appliances and HVAC systems.
• Damage to your personal property like electronics, furniture, appliances, etc.
• Cleanup and flood remediation services that remove debris from your home and then use professional-grade equipment to dry out your home.
• Costs associated with temporary housing, such as if you need to live in a hotel while flood remediation crews repair your home.

Certain flood damage insurance policies will also have a separate “basement coverage” clause. This clause may describe additional or special coverage for equipment or property that is normally kept in a basement or cellar and that was damaged by a flood. For example, furnaces, water heaters, and electrical equipment like breaker panels are usually covered by this clause, but to a limited extent.

Why are Flood Damage Claims Denied?

An insurance company may come up with any number of illegitimate reasons to deny a flood damage claim. At the same time, there might be valid reasons for your claim to be denied. If you have been notified that your claim was denied for any reason, the first thing you should do is dial (713) 561-5454 to get our Houston flood damage lawyers on the case. We can review the denial letter to see if the reason for denial is legitimate based on the explanation given and the terms of your policy.

Common reasons why flood damage claims are denied are:

• Damage was caused by water but not by a flood (e.g., burst pipe or rain without flooding).
• Not enough photographic or video evidence was submitted when the claim was filed.
• Claim was filed after a mandatory filing deadline.
• Flood occurred during a lapse in the policy coverage.
• Paperwork was not completed correctly.
• Claim was filed during a waiting period after a flood that affected thousands of policyholders.
• Policyholder did not make reasonable efforts to mitigate flood damage.
• Home or business was in a flood zone with coverage exclusions.

Bad faith tactics an insurer might try to deny or harm a flood damage claim are:

• Denying a claim without giving any reason at all.
• Denying a claim for an unlawful reason.
• Denying a claim after not conducting a proper investigation of the flood damage.
• Intentionally delaying the handling of a claim to make the policyholder give up.
• Offering a deliberately low settlement amount that is below what the policyholder is owed.
• Intimidating or harassing the policyholder.

Make Us Your Legal Champions – Call Now

At The Law Offices of Omar Khawaja, our Houston flood damage claim attorneys are always available to hear from new and returning clients who need our legal help. If you need to either file a flood damage claim or challenge the denial of a claim you already filed, get us on your side now.

We can help with your case by:

• Reviewing your insurance policy.
• Drafting and filing your claim.
• Responding to insurance company inquiries.
• Challenging or appealing claim denials.
• Attempting to negotiate a settlement to end your claim before litigation.
• Preparing for litigation and representing you in court if needed.

No matter what needs to happen in your case, our goal will be to get you the full coverage amount that you deserve. While it’s true that no one should have to fight their insurance company for coverage after a flood, it happens quite often. Be ready for whatever the insurer tries by putting us in charge of your case today.

Call (713) 561-5454 or submit an online contact form now.