State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and more than two dozen insurance companies have launched a new program to help Green River Valley businesses struggling to find flood coverage.<\/p>\n
The \u201cWashington Flood Market Assistance Plan\u201d will act as a matchmaker, pairing businesses needing coverage with insurers selling it.<\/p>\n
Last year, concerns about potential flooding below the Howard Hanson Dam in south King County made it difficult for some area businesses to find adequate coverage. Kreidler worked with state lawmakers and Gov. Chris Gregoire to get the law changed to allow this program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Green River Valley is a key part of the state\u2019s economy,\u201d said Kreidler. \u201cCompanies must be able to find adequate coverage, both for flood damage and for business interruptions due to flooding.\u201d<\/p>\n
To date, 26 companies have volunteered to take part in the program, at Kreidler\u2019s request. Businesses seeking coverage must apply through and agent or broker.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate the willingness of insurers to step forward and try to resolve this situation,\u201d Kreidler said.<\/p>\n
If the voluntary program isn\u2019t effective, the legislation also gives the insurance commissioner the power to compel companies to form a \u201cjoint underwriting association.\u201d The joint underwriting association would act as an insurer of last resort.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt remains my goal to resolve this on a voluntary basis if possible,\u201d said Kreidler.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also urging anyone in the potential flood areas \u2013 including homeowners and renters – to strongly consider purchasing coverage from the National Flood Insurance Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many homeowners and renters, the federal flood program coverage may be all the coverage they need,\u201d said Kreidler.<\/p>\n
For businesses, however, federal flood coverage is limited to $500,000 per building and $500,000 for contents. Also, the program doesn\u2019t provide business-interruption coverage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
LEARN MORE<\/p>\n
The program will be administered by the Surplus Line Association of Washington, under the supervision of the state insurance commissioner\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Applications must come from an agent or broker; businesses cannot apply directly. For help finding an agent or broker, or for more information about the program, please see www.surpluslines.org. The administrator can also be contacted at 206-682-3409 or by e-mail at WFMAP@surpluslines.org.<\/p>\n
For frequently asked questions, the insurance commissioner\u2019s office has set up a web page at http:\/\/www.insurance.wa.gov\/MAP.shtml.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and more than two dozen insurance companies have launched a new program to help Green River Valley businesses struggling to find flood coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9140"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}