Union Mutual of Vermont

The first three months of 2010 will be known in New England as the time of floods, not snow, particularly for those living in Southern New England. As this is being written, counties in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are under government-ordered states of emergencies with roads flooded and rivers well out of their banks.

It seems therefore a good time to discuss coverage for damage by water under our standard policies.

Our basic ISO Homeowners and Businessowners policies provide very limited coverage for damage caused by storm water, with most situations addressed by the exclusion to the policy found, for example, in Section I(e)(c) of the HO 3 policy on page 8 of 18. (A similar exclusion is found in the BOP policy.)  Many of our policyholders, however, carry either a UM Plus or UM Elite endorsement to the Homeowners policy, or the Second Century endorsement to the Businessowners policy, which do provide coverage up to $2500 (UM Plus), $3500 (UM Elite) or $5,000 (Second Century) for water backup from sewers or drains, from the failure of a basement sump pump, or from the inability of a sump pump to keep up with water infiltrating the basement.

Other common situations which may give rise to valid claims resulting from these flood waters are from power outages (for food spoilage, for example, under various endorsements common to many HO policies) or from trees falling on buildings.  (Flood waters tend to weaken tree roots' grip on the land, and so are more prone to falling over in winds which frequently follow heavy rains.)  Some of our policyholders also have flood policies issued by us but underwritten by the federal government, and these policies carry more extensive coverage for buildings and property within them damaged by floodwaters.  (As of March 29, the federal government has not reauthorized the federal flood program so new policies are no longer available through us or any other company, but that is another story. We hope the program will be reauthorized by mid-April.)

If you believe damage to your property may be covered under your policy and its endorsements, please contact your independent agent to discuss making a claim. The language of the policy controls.  If for any reason your agent is unable to help you because its operations have been curtailed by a state of emergency, please file your claim directly with us by calling our 24-hour claim line, 800-671-8552.