Jackie Jones bought her home seven years ago in a small town in Georgia. Since then, she has been worried about every heavy rain that lasts more than a day.
The property has a history of flooding. This is a fact that the owner didn’t need to disclose before selling it to Jones. There is no federal law that requires home sellers to tell buyers the history of the flood. Some states have flood disclosure laws, but Georgia is a state that doesn’t require them.
“If I had known about the flood, I would never have bought this house,” Jones, 62.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), dozens of US states do not have flood disclosure laws and more than half a dozen disclosure requirements are inadequate.
Only eight states received a “A” in the scorecard issued by the NRDC in January, indicating the best flood disclosure law. Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina were among them. One state – Tennessee – won a “B” and 18 states, including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, obtained a “C” and showed what identifies appropriate disclosure laws.
The rest received a “DS” for having “FS” due to insufficient flood disclosure or no disclosure requirements.
Cost to buy a house in flood history
A Miliman study commissioned by the NRDC shows that buying a home with a history of flooding costs an average of $56,452 over the life of a 30-year mortgage. In high-cost states like Connecticut and Massachusetts, the average is more than twice as much.
Flood damage is not covered by standard household insurance. Flood policy must be added as an approval or purchased separately. This means that homeowners without flood insurance may be paid out of their pockets for extra costs.
Floods are expensive and homes that have experienced flooding in the past can be flooded again. When you are about to make the biggest purchase of your life, you need to know about the history of every flood – you are in your home.
– Joel Skata
NRDC Senior Lawyer
Buyers who know the home have a history of flooding can protect themselves by purchasing flood insurance, he says. You can also make an informed decision about maintaining or improving the furnace when you decide not to raise the furnace or finish a potential flooded basement.
Does home insurance cover floods?
Most Americans don’t realize that flood insurance coverage requires purchasing an add-on policy. Approximately 56% of respondents in last year’s survey were unaware that flooding was excluded from standard homeowner insurance policies, according to Trusted Choice, a group representing independent insurance agents and brokers members.
Only 4% of U.S. homeowners have flood insurance, and many of these policyholders had to purchase coverage as their homes were located in designated high-risk flood zones where the mortgage terms require it.
“Homeowners often believe there is no flood risk if they are not forced to purchase flood insurance,” the Millman report states. “The increased flood risk caused by climate change represents a major potential exposure to homeowners and lenders.”
Most homeowners who purchase flood insurance get insurance contracts from a federally supported national flood insurance program. The national average annual cost of NFIP policy was $870 in 2024. Because premiums are risk-based, homeowners living in low-risk areas are less than policyholders living in designated flood zones.
Flood outside the flood zone
In 2024, most flood disasters, including Hurricane Helen, were characterized by “extreme rain.” This means rainfall that can reduce precipitation for more than a month in a few hours. Warming Planet – Last year, scientists measured record highs in Earth’s temperature, but more vapor enters the atmosphere and charges the rain cycle with more precipitation.
The frequency of these heavy downpours is increasing nationwide, according to scientists with the US Global Change Research Program. Raining at a faster pace than the ground can absorb will cause flooding. They are often far from the oceans and waters.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, approximately 40% of flood insurance claims are for households outside of flood zones.
“Climate change is expected to increase flooding due to rising sea levels and extreme storms,” Scata said.
How to prevent flooding of your home
Flood insurance can help you protect you financially, but there are other measures that may reduce or prevent flood damage. They may not make a difference in catastrophic floods, but they can prevent losses in extreme circumstances.
The simplest measures include standard home maintenance, such as making sure the grooves are clear and removing water from the foundation.
Other mitigation projects include installing a sump pump with a backup battery, installing drainage around your home foundation, and changing garden grading to drive away from the home in case the storm knocks you out of your home.
Homeowners can also increase utilities such as air conditioning units and furnaces, or move to higher floors in the home. If they have a basement, they can seal the foundation and waterproof it. In extreme cases, the owner may decide to raise the entire house to exceed the flood level.
In Georgia, Jones does her hydrological research and is currently considering a project to fill in the dirt to grading her garden and keep the water out of her home. She says it is a presumption that she does not include replacing her fence.
“What I do is sacrifice a lot of money to me,” Jones says.
