Flood Insurance in Delaware

Delaware’s tiny geographic area means most residents aren’t too far from a body of water. Every county has an Atlantic coastline.

The threat of floods is never far off. Since homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding damage, your home is exposed without a flood insurance policy.

This comprehensive guide informs homeowners on finding the best flood insurance in Delaware to sufficiently protect your property.

The average cost of flood insurance in Delaware is $1,497 annually under the nation’s largest flood insurer, the National Flood Insurance Program, but your exact rate will vary depending on your location and property.

If you’re unfamiliar, the NFIP isn’t a standard insurance company. It’s a government entity managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The government established this public option for flood insurance in 1968 to subsidize coverage and make it accessible to the general public, as historically, no company had been able to insure floods adequately and economically while staying in business.

Since the government runs the NFIP, the program isn’t profit-seeking, meaning the program can subsidize rates for many people to make coverage commonplace. However, in 2021, FEMA changed the way it calculates its flood insurance premiums.

The new system, titled RR 2.0, raised flood insurance costs in Delaware from an average of about $874 annually to $1,497. The objective of RR 2.0 was to assess and evaluate flood risk for all properties more accurately, which turned out to be more significant than imagined.

RR 2.0 raised average flood premiums in nearly every state, including Delaware. The following table illustrates flood insurance rates in Delaware by county before and after RR 2.0 implementation.

RR 2.0 rates took effect for all new NFIP policies starting October 1, 2021. FEMA has been phasing in the new rates for existing policyholders since many are experiencing rate increases under the new methodology. The NFIP capped rate hikes at 18% annually, so depending on the size of your increase, it may take some time for you to realize your total RR 2.0 premium.

Flood insurance in Delaware covers your home from flood damage. FEMA defines a flood as “a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation… of normally dry land area.” Common flood causes include:

Flood insurance policies normally have two areas of coverage:

NFIP flood insurance plans cover many aspects of your home, except finished basements. If your house experiences a flood, your basement is especially prone to damage because it will be at the lowest elevation. The NFIP won’t cover furnishings or installation in finished basements.

When looking for the best flood insurance in Delaware, you should consider coverage from private flood insurers before settling on the NFIP. Private flood insurance companies can offer higher coverage limits and more coverage options than NFIP policies.

The NFIP is limited due to its status s a government offering. Due to its size and objective of availability rather than making a profit, the program can’t afford to cover all policyholders fully. The coverage limits for building and contents are limited to $250,000 and $100,000, respectively, and may not be sufficient for high-value properties.

NFIP policies offer standard coverage options and are generally designed to provide basic flood protection for as many people as possible.

Private flood insurance companies in Delaware can offer more tailored coverage options to suit individual needs, including higher limits and additional coverage options not possible in NFIP policies.

Private carriers can usually provide $1 million or more of building coverage and several hundred thousand dollars of contents coverage. Additionally, they can offer increased protection for basements and loss of use coverage.

Loss of use coverage reimburses you for living expenses if you must move out of your home after it suffers major flood damage. Your insurer can cover lodging, food, and gas while you’re displaced through this coverage. The NFIP simply can’t afford to offer loss of use coverage.

The average cost of flood insurance in Delaware is $1,497, but several factors influence how much you pay. Houses at greater risk of suffering flood damage pay higher flood insurance premiums. Factors that influence your property flood risk and premiums include:

The location of your property within a designated flood zone is a crucial factor. Properties in high-risk flood zones, known as Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs), are more susceptible to flooding and may have higher insurance premiums than properties in moderate or low-risk zones. FEMA creates and determines flood maps for the country and updated many in relation to RR 2.0.

Houses closer to potential flooding sources (bodies of water) have higher premiums than homes further from water. Storm surge and coastal erosion, shoreline loss caused by storms or hurricanes, are more likely to affect houses close to lakes, rivers, and the Atlantic coast.

Your home’s elevation also affects rates. Houses at higher elevations or built higher off the ground have lower chances of flooding, thus leading to lower insurance rates. 

The type of construction and materials used to build your house also influence insurance costs. Companies will assess your foundation, flood openings, and first-floor height. Also, masonry homes, which withstand floodwaters better than wooden frame houses, may generally have lower premiums.

The only entity that can require flood insurance in Delaware is your mortgage lender. No law requires flood insurance. 

If your property is situated in a high-risk flood zone (SFHAs), your mortgage lender will require you to maintain flood insurance for the life of the loan. Flood insurance in these high-risk zones mitigates potential financial losses for your lender in case of a flood. 

Without insurance, your lender would have no way to recoup the money invested in your property if it was destroyed by a flood. You can check your flood zone with a Delaware flood insurance rate map provided by FEMA.

Institutions accept private and NFIP coverage as long as the policy limits meet your home’s value. If your home exceeds $250,000 in value, your NFIP policy must be the maximum of $250,000

With so much to keep track of when looking for Delaware flood insurance quotes, it can be helpful to have someone on your side looking out for your interests. Our team at Clovered wants to make finding the right coverage easy.

You can use our online flood insurance quote form to compare rates in your area. It only takes a few minutes to fill out and submit to our team, which will respond with your options promptly.

Or, If you’d rather speak to a licensed agent over the phone for your quote, give us a call at 833-255-4117 during business hours. You can also email us at agent@clovered.com.