Statewide Claim Services LLC

In general, damage caused by wind, wind-driven rain and water that comes into your home through the roof, windows, doors or holes in the walls is covered by homeowners insurance. But damage from flooding or water that rises from the bottom up—from the overflow of a body of water, for example, or a storm surge—is not covered. A lot of the damage in Houston from Hurricane Harvey was from flooding and was only covered if you had flood insurance, such as through the FloodSmart.gov National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer. But even if you didn’t have flood insurance, it’s still worthwhile to contact your home insurance company to see whether some of your expenses will be covered, such as wind damage to your roof or the additional living expenses you incurred while you were out of your house. See Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Wind Damage vs. Flood Damage fact sheet. Also see Lessons From the Floods for more information about how flooding affected Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and other Midwestern towns, as well as what types of damages were and were not covered by insurance.