Residents across the Carolinas have experienced catastrophic flooding due to excessive rainfall over the past few days. 16 inches of rain fell in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday alone, and multiple other places around the area experienced well over 20 inches of precipitation within the span of a few days. These heavy rains have severely damaged and destroyed dams, homes, businesses, roads, and have also taken lives. The National Guard was deployed to help in parts of South Carolina after the President declared a federal state of emergency on October 3rd.
To make matters even worse, only about 10 percent of South Carolina homeowners have flood insurance, so many losses from this disastrous flooding will be uninsured. Flood and wind damage are often excluded from Homeowners policies, which many do not realize.
The Insurance Information Institute says that as of July 31, 2015, there were 199,540 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies written in South Carolina totaling $133.4 million and covering $50.8 billion in property and contents. NFIP policies provide up to $250,000 in coverage for a residential structure and $100,000 for personal contents. Businesses have slightly higher limits with $500,000 for the structure and $500,000 for contents.