Flood Insurance and Warnings: How Long to Brace for Flood Warnings

Today, we want to about flood warnings and answer an age-old question we get how long do they last? Now, this is a question we often get especially for people who are trying to obtain flood insurance from the private market.

Warning, Watch, & Advisory

First, we want to unpack what a flood warning really is. You see, many people may confuse this with flood watch and flood advisory. Flood warnings are something that you want to take immediate action on.

Once you receive that notification on your phone or you hear it from the news, this is something you want to take action on preventing damage from your home because it's either the current weather circumstances are about to cause a flood or flooding is already happening in a nearby area.

Now, this is very different from flood watch since flood watch advisories are just some form of heads up or you need to be prepared for flooding that may happen. This generally doesn't mean that there will be flooding, but it's possible.

Flood advisories on the other hand are the least dangerous since this only indicates that there might be flooding or there's already one, but it's not expected to become a big flood. Flood advisory is more known to indicated that the flooding may become a nuisance to residents. However, it's important to note regardless of this, if you don't start being careful, these floods can cause a big problem or even life-threatening in some cases.

Now, let's talk about how long these warnings really last.

Flood Warnings

When it comes to the length of when these flood warnings will stay really depends on the current weather situation. These warnings can last for a whole day, weeks, and even months given the right circumstances. This is also one of the major threats to people since generally when the rain stops, people also stop worrying about the threat of water coming into their homes.

It isn't really the case because you see, many of these rivers and lakes don't crest for several days after the rain is gone due to runoff. We've mentioned spring runoff lately because this has been a big headache for everyone across the country as we move out of the winter season completely. You see, spring runoff is generally composed of all of that ice and snow that melted when the warmer season came in.

Recently, we encountered this with someone we talked to. They thought they were very lucky to only have one inch of water on their property. They stopped worrying about it like anybody would do, until the following morning when they came downstairs and find that they have four feet of water.

Since it takes time for this runoff to hit these areas, it also takes time for it to come down which is why you'll see, especially lately, that flood warnings take a few days before it expires.

Flood Insurance

Now, it's important to note that these flood warnings have a direct impact on flood insurance options in your area. When there's a flood warning, you have to keep in mind that the private market or private flood insurance in these areas will be in moratoriums which means that you can't put a new policy in place until the flood warning expires.

Moratoriums are times where private carriers or private insurance providers will put a halt on the services they provide for a short amount of time or in rare cases, cause some delays in providing flood insurance since they don't want to take the risks that the property is presenting. In this case, the flooding in your area is most likely the cause why there's a moratorium in place even if you're not flooded yet.

This is why we really encourage that you get that flood policy in place at all times and buy one, especially before spring comes in. Once those warnings kick in, you might be left with no flood insurance policy since federal flood insurance through the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) and National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) generally has that 30-day waiting period.

So if you got questions on flood insurance when there's a flood warning, how to get flood insurance, and which option is the best for you, reach out to us through the links below. You can watch the full video on this episode below:

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you avoid flood risks everywhere, preserving the value of your property long term through flood education and awareness.