While no one can say for sure if or when there will be a flood this winter, the advice is the same from the governor to the chamber to the city to everyone in between, including Mike Howard, External Affairs Director for FEMA Region 10.
“Now is the time to buy flood insurance,” Howard said.
But while reports of private flood insurance being difficult to come by have been trickling in, Howard on Wednesday emphasized that National Flood Insurance Program is available to all citizens in most communities (including Kent).
“We’re not saying ‘No,’” he said. “We’re saying ‘buy it.’”
With the very real possibility that the Army Corps of Engineers will have to release water from behind the Howard Hanson Dam this winter, residents and building owners through the Green River Valley are being urged to not only try to protect their buildings as best they can, but also to make sure their insurance covers any damage that may come during a flood.
But flood insurance is not a standard part of homeowners’ policies, which may leave some susceptible if the water comes.
“Not many homeowner-insurance policies cover flood damage,” Howard said.
For that added protection, residents can buy additional private flood insurance or get it from the the federal government, which offers flood insurance for homeowners, renters and owners of commercial properties.
The federal program offers residential coverage up to $250,000 for building and $100,000 for contents. The program also offers a contents-only policy for renters.
While renters do not have to worry about replacing flood-damaged buildings, those who live on the first floor should consider insurance for their belongings in case of rising waters.
For businesses, the federal program offers up to $500,000 coverage for buildings and $500,000 for contents.
Some businesses, however, have complained that they have equipment that is worth well more than $500,000 in protection offered from the government.
“The half-million dollars they can pick up through the government is not adequate,” said Tom McLaughlin, executive director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing Puget Sound (CAMPS), a group that brings together dozens of the valley’s manufacturers.
“It doesn’t even begin to touch the replacement value of the equipment,” McLaughlin said, adding that one member last year bought a single machine worth more than $1 million.
McLaughlin said that so far he has not heard from any members that they were unable to buy private insurance, but that CAMPS members are taking the threat of a flood very seriously and working primarily on ways to keep water away from their businesses and expensive equipment.
Howard said the caps on the federal program were set by Congress in the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004 (also known as the “Two Floods and You’re Out of the Taxpayer’s Pocket Act”) and that in cases where the value of the contents surpass the coverage, additional money should be spent on flood protection.
The larger issue for manufacturers in the Kent Valley, according to McLaughlin, is not just the equipment.
The Kent Valley is the second-largest manufacturing/wholesale distribution area on the West Coast and the fifth-largest industrial and manufacturing base in the country.
Flooding that closes businesses or roads could have a major effect on the bottom line of local businesses and the region in general.
“The impact down here is more than just the damage to the equipment,” McLaughlin said. “We’re talking billions of dollars of economic impact.”
According to Howard, the National Flood Insurance program is administered through 90 private agencies that write the policies which are backed by the government.
But every policy also takes 30 days to go into effect, so as the rainy season gets closer and closer, time is running out for people to purchase insurance.
“We’ve heard time and time again you don’t need to live in a flood plain to need flood insurance,” Howard said, adding “buy insurance.”
For more information on the National Flood Insurance Program, visit www.floodsmart.gov.
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