Hurricane Idalia: What to do if you house or car was flooded

Jul 16, 2023

Hurricane Idalia crashed onto Florida as a Category 3 storm, pushing massive storm surges in front of it as it went.

Cedar Key saw nearly seven feet of storm surge washing over the small island community Wednesday morning and areas along the west coast such as Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota and Manatee counties were swamped with water. Videos from the areas showed flooded bridges, floating cars, wading residents and knee-high water rushing into doorways.

That makes this a good time to point out that most Floridians don't have flood insurance. In April, 18% of Florida homeowners and 4% of U.S. homeowners had this coverage, which in the Sunshine State is only required if you have a mortgage and live in a FEMA-, or Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated flood zone. Starting last spring, state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. began phasing in a requirement that new policyholders have flood insurance.

But what do you do if your home or car was just flooded?

Immediately document the damage with photos and video and file a claim with your insurance provider, according to Mark Friedlander, spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute.

For homes, condos and rental units, the only product that will cover flood damage is flood insurance. This is usually a separate policy, either provided by the federal government through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or by some private companies. It also can come as a specific rider on your property insurance policy.

If you have flood insurance through FEMA, call FEMA immediately and have the paperwork with your policy number in front of you. Information about filing a claim, documenting damage, working with your flood insurance adjuster, making repairs and understanding your claim payment is available on FEMA.gov. If you don't know who your insurance agent or company is, you need to start a claim, or you need general information, call 877-336-2627.

As for the house or apartment, first, stay safe. Here are some tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Next, when it is safe to do so, start drying out your home to stop the damage from getting worse. Progressive.com has some tips:

It’s important to note that federal flood insurance won’t cover living expenses like a private flood insurance policy might.

If you make temporary repairs, Friedlander suggested taking pictures before the repairs are made, and keeping the receipts to add to your claim.

FEMA.gov has these tips and a help sheet for saving your family treasures:

Your local homeowner's insurance may work with companies that do flood mitigation, repairs and restoration. Be sure anyone you use is licensed and insured.

For cars, comprehensive coverage includes not only flooding but also trees falling on the car, hail, fire, theft, vandalism and cracked windshields, Friedlander said. This type of coverage must be carried by drivers with an auto loan but is optional for those in Florida who lease or own their car outright. If your car was in your home's garage, contact your homeowners insurance company first.

If your car has been flooded, contact your insurer and:

If your vehicle was submerged into or over your engine, it's very likely a total loss.

Do not attempt to drive in a flooded area. Emergency management officials often say “turn around, don’t drown” for this reason, as you don’t truly know how deep the water is.

Whether or not to get flood insurance is completely up to you. It’s all about managing risks.

At the very least, now is the time to do an insurance checkup with your agent to make sure your property and auto insurance coverage is what you need. If you haven’t already, you can create a photo inventory of everything in your home that will be useful if you need to file a claim. It can be helpful, but not necessary, to know the cost of valuable items.

“Florida is the state most vulnerable to flooding in the country,” Friedlander said. Flooding is possible outside of FEMA maps, with storms in the summer or king tides.

John Gallas, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida, contributed to this article.