Even if you don't live in "hurricane territory" you can experience serious flooding simply from an onslaught of heavy, non-stop rain. Be ahead of the game: review your homeowners insurance policy and know the facts about flood insurance.

In alphabetical order:

Food. If your freezer is filled with frozen steaks, fish and veggies your policy most likely will provide partial coverage of the cost of replacing spoiled food - due to power outage. Check to see if there's a cap on the amount - $250-$500 is common.

Hotels, Motels & B&Bs. Most policies will pay for temporary living expenses but only if your home became uninhabitable due to the storm. A few, such as State Farm, also cover mandatory evacuation - of your home or even if you had to evacuate because of the threat to nearby homes but not specifically to yours.

Trees. This is a tricky one. If a tree came down in the storm and hit your house, homeowners insurance usually covers both the cost of removing the tree and repairing the damage to your house.

On the other hand, if the tree fell on your property but missed your house (or garage, potting shed, pool house) it's unlikely your policy will cover the cost of its removal.

Vehicles. If your 4x4, Saab or camper was hit by a tree or damaged from flooding, get out your auto insurance policy. If you have "comprehensive coverage" you should be covered.

File your claim as soon as possible. You may need to make temporary repairs first and if so, keep all receipts. And take extensive photos or videos of the damage, dating the pictures.

                        About Flood Insurance

If you live in a flood prone area, lenders require that you have flood insurance. But if you want this additional protection no matter where you live, keep in mind that it typically goes into effect 30 days after you apply. So obviously you don't want to wait until the weather bureau is predicting a storm.

Flood insurance, known as a special issue policy, is available from the Federal Flood Insurance Program.  Your insurance agent can help arrange the coverage, but the policy itself comes directly from the government's national program.

For Further Details:

Insurance Information Institute: http://www.iii.org/.

Federal Flood Insurance Program: www.fema.gov/nfip. In addition to information about flood insurance, the site has rate maps, spelling out what coverage in your area might cost.

            - Nancy Dunnan: NDunnan@aol.com