FEMA Best Practices Update: When the Waters Rise, Flood Insurance Speeds Recovery

Just after midnight on September 21, Rebecca Rush of Lilburn in Gwinnett County woke to crackling lightning and the sound of pounding thunder and her two dogs barking excitedly. The heavy storm system that had pounded the Atlanta metropolitan counties for four days, dumping up to 22 inches of rain. Within 30 minutes of waking the following morning, Rush was knee-deep in floodwaters.

“Two days after being rescued from clinging to the tree, I returned to the house and could not walk through the front door,” said Rush. “You know it’s going to be bad, but when you actually see everything, you just cry. The floodwater line on the walls reached nearly seven feet. Everything was covered in thick mud and sludge. It smelled like a sewer. Everything was contaminated.”

“I was convinced at the time I bought the policy that I didn’t actually need flood insurance,” said Rush. “That’s the reason I just bought what I had to—coverage for the structure and not my contents. Looking back, that was not the wise thing to do.”

Read the entire Best Practice: http://www.fema.gov/mitigationbp/bestPracticeDetail.do?mitssId=7031

Find additional Resources: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/bestpractices/resources.shtm