What Is Flood Insurance    

In 1968 Congress created the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to help provide a means for property owners to financially protect themselves. The NFIP offer flood insurance to homeowners, renters and business owners if their community participate in the NFIP. Participating communities agree to adopt and enforce ordinances that meet or exceed FEMA requirements to reduce the risk of flooding.
 
Further Congress mandated federally regulated or insured lenders to require flood insurance on properties that are located in areas at high risk of flooding.

Flood insurance covers direct physical loss caused by "flood". In simple terms, a flood is an excess of water on land that is normally dry.  Here is the official definition used by the NFIP. A flood is a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or two or more properties ( at least one of which is your property) from:

• Overflow of inland or tidal waters;
• Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source;
• Mudflow is a river of liquid and flowing mud on the surfaces of normally dry land areas;
• Collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar bodies of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in a flood.