Standard homeowners policies cover water damage that is sudden and accidental. A burst supply line at two in the morning is the textbook case. What they do not cover is gradual damage, and what they exclude outright is flood, meaning water that rises and comes in from outside.
That single distinction decides most claims, and it is decided by where the water came from rather than how much of it there was.
About 136,000 Harris County structures flooded during Harvey, and 68% of them were outside the mapped 100-year floodplain. First Street puts 57.6% of Harris County properties at some flood risk over 30 years.
Being outside a flood zone means a lender did not require flood insurance. It has never meant the house does not flood.
Source: Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research.
Usually yes, because it is sudden and accidental. A pipe that has been weeping behind a wall for months is usually treated as gradual damage and excluded, which is why the age of the leak becomes the argument.
It is worth pricing. 68% of the Harris County homes that flooded during Harvey were outside the mapped 100-year floodplain. NFIP policies also carry a waiting period, so cover cannot be arranged once a storm is forecast.
Emergency Response
Call and a crew is dispatched - extraction the same day, drying equipment set the same visit, and the documentation your claim needs from the first hour.
