[Thebaddog]

If you are homeless, what kind of insurance are you carrying, global warming coverage?

[Mudcat]

"It's not fair, but that's how it is."

Look, not to be hard-hearted or anything, but people choose to live below sea level and they then think it's not fair that my tax dollars are in a limited supply for the purpose of paying for the results of their folly? And double ditto for folks who live beachside in a hurricane zone.

I don't think it's fair that I have to pay taxes that get doled out for this bs.

[CindyDawg]

It's best to have both. It only cost about 200 dollars a year. In "82" a hurricane totaled my mobile home. The insurance company didn't want to pay because of flood damage. I had a neighbor that witnessed the roof opening and after that they paid. I accidentally let it lapse a couple of months ago and was concerned. I'm not in a flood zone but if you have both then you don't have to worry about technicalities. The only thing that will help the Katrina victims now is some kind of structure damage that let the water in.

[FreePaul]

If the structure is still in place and flooded I can see where most policies, except for flood insurance, would not cover the damage. Other damage caused by wind, falling trees, etc. should be covered. If the storm surge washed the structure away or severely damaged it I wouldn't think that was "rising water" but maybe the courts will decide if they already haven't.

[Hodar]

There is such a thing as sympathy, and there is the law. The law is, or should be unemotional. We would all be better off if the law were more based on cold hard facts, rather than emotional outbursts. If emotion were kept out, you wouldn't see multi-million dollar judgements over hot coffee.

An insurance policy is a legally binding contract. The terms are clearly printed out, and it is YOUR responsiblity to understand whay you have bought. If you under-insure your home, you do so at YOUR risk. If you carry NO insurance on your single largest possession you have in life, you are a fool.

This website describes the difference between Flood Insurance and other Home Insurance. This is from the FAQ secion as to what is covered by Flood Insurance.
Is flood damage from wind-driven rain covered? No. When rain enters through a wind-damaged window or door, or comes through a hole in a wall or roof, the NFIP considers the resulting puddles and damage to be windstorm-related, not flood-related. Link

[Cautor]

It's clearly not wind damage as it was caused by water (storm surge). Shyster lawyers will line their pockets and if they win the suits, all of the rest of us who have insurance will reimburse the insurance companies from now on in the form of much higher rates. In addition, look for insurance companies to cancel any remaining policies in areas near hurricane prone areas of the Gulf and Atlantic coast. That will then result in pols stepping in and using government money to underwrite the insurance companies to get them to continue offering insurance and we--the taxpayers-will pay that bill also. Be careful what you wish for here.

[RouxStir]

When Hurricane Lilly hit here, a 200 year-old red oak fell on my house. State Farm Insurance did everything in their power to delay making any payments. Don't believe all of the BS that they show in their ads on TV about how they are their to take care of you.

Insurance companies are running neck and neck with attorneys and sewer treatment plant scum for the title of lowest form of life.

[MRMEAN]

Bands of survivors are already joining forces and considering bringing class action cases against the insurers unless they offer full compensation for a disaster that the locals say was triggered by the ferocious winds.

"Repeat after me: 'Wind driven storm surge'," says a lawyer addressing one group of mainly elderly evacuees who have sought shelter in Ocean Spring's Gulf Hills Hotel, Mississippi. They shout back the phrase lustily.

From Floodsmart.gov:

Flood insurance covers devastation caused by storm surge, wave wash, tidal waves or the overflow of any body of water over normally dry land areas. Although flood insurance specifically excludes wind and hail damage, the good news is that most homeowners insurance provide such coverage.

[TheBattman]

Unless these folks can find a sympathetic judge (who must have been affected by the same problem - thus making him/her have a conflict of interest), or an uneducated jury, there's nowhere to go with most of these cases.

Insurance policies for many years have explicitly stated that water damage (flood) is NOT covered. The federal government has been paying for a lot of advertising time on TV with the same warning about flood insurance vs. homeowner's insurance.

What I have been shocked about is the reports of mortgage companies that DID NOT require many of the homes in the NO area to have flood insurance. This was the first time I had ever heard of such a beast. My wife spent a few years in the mortgage business and had never heard of such a thing - EVERY morgage package in most of the country requires a flood survey/report. Property in flood zones requires flood insurance to get a mortgage loan. So why the exception for the NO area???? Because the whole bloody city is under sea level??? UGH.

I do feel sympathetic for the people involved. In fact, if some of the damage can be shown to have been caused by tornaodes - then it should be covered. But what if your home received some damage from winds/tornado, but then the storm surge came and cleaned the home off it's foundation?

What a situation.

[TheBattman]

The government flood program pays up to $250,000 for residences, but many beachfront properties turned to a heap of matchsticks by Katrina, were worth much more than that.

But he admits he is lucky. He is well off and can afford a long legal fight, if that's what it takes.

Some need to read: http://www.reason.com/0403/fe.js.confessions.shtml