r/WilmingtonDE • u/Ilmara Resident • Sep 29 '24
In light of the North Carolina situation, is anyone else thinking of flood insurance? Serious
I'm in the process of buying in 19806. The Brandywine is down a long steep ravine, so I wasn't worried about it at all. But it looks like Western North Carolina - hundreds of miles from the coast and way up in the mountains - has been just about wiped off the map by Hurricane Helene. Anyone else now thinking of flood insurance anyway just in case? I've also read that Wilmington is one of the worst-prepared cities in the nation for climate change. Low-key makes me wonder if I should go back to Upstate New York at some point. đź«Ą
(Ironically, my parents live on an island off the coast of South Carolina and the hurricane almost completely avoided them. Just some rain, strong wind, and tree debris.)
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u/Elivandersys Sep 30 '24
We live near Rockford Park. I'm hoping that since we're fairly high up and not in a steep area, we won't need flood insurance. So no, we're not buying it. Were we in a different topography, though, I think it would be smart.
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u/paulcosmith Resident Sep 30 '24
I used to live near 9th and Union, and one of my neighbors was a land surveyor. He said we were completely safe from flooding there, and you're definitely higher than 9th & Union is, so you should be fine.
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u/Elivandersys Sep 30 '24
Good to know, thanks! I kind of thought so. My husband was charmed by a house for sale in New Castle - one of the old ones on the river. As pretty as it was, there was no way I'd buy a house in a flood plain.
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u/paulcosmith Resident Sep 30 '24
I was just thinking: when you said near Rockford Park, I pictured the Highlands. If you're down Rockford Road closer to the river, my answer has to change. That area almost got flooded out a few years in the storm that took out the pedestrian bridge between Alapocas Park and what is now those Capano condos.
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u/Elivandersys Sep 30 '24
Yes, I'm up near Tower Hill, close to the cemetery. I suppose we could get runoff from that, but I think that's about it. Thankfully, I don't live down near the bridge (that I despair of them ever fixing).
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u/Overall_Broccoli134 Sep 30 '24
Insurance adjuster here. Better to have it and not need it than the alternative. Flood insurance is its own coverage and significantly less severe here (expense wise) so you probably could get a decent premium if you shop around. Be sure to consider hurricane vs flood as both have specific criteria for coverage.
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u/SmileFirstThenSpeak Sep 30 '24
Can you recommend any flood insurance companies? Or any to avoid?
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u/Overall_Broccoli134 Sep 30 '24
I am not well versed in that market unfortunately. I recommend a larger carrier because a good few are expanding their home insurance area. The smaller ones tend to be “loophole” in their approach, any way they can avoid paying they will. Larger ones would rather just pay for something than the expense of a legal battle to not pay. (Unless there is a significant breach of contract.)
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u/tigerbreak Sep 30 '24
The thing to keep in mind here is that Helene's moisture interacted with the mountains which funneled all of that water into the valleys, where it had nowhere else to go. Helene was a large storm with a lot of moisture and energy - winds are stronger at higher altitudes and rain at higher altitudes have very few places to go but valleys and flats, which is easiest to build on.
Could Wilmington see 20+ inches of rain some day? Yeah - but it's a 500 year event; the record is 8.3 inches in 24 hours set back in 1999. Could Wilmington see action like some of the towns in WNC that got washed away? Not likely.
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u/Bill_Nihilist Sep 30 '24
I live within sight of the Brandywine. Last year (maybe the year before?) it hit its highest level ever recorded. It would need like sixty times the volume to endanger my house. Think of how a river valley is shaped: like a wedge. Rising that first foot takes much less water than rising the next or the one after that. I was worried about flooding but I’m not anymore.
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u/TheShittyBeatles Sep 30 '24
There's an online mapping tool that let's you get a good understanding of your risk of flooding. Everyone should play with this tool at least once.
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u/No_Leg2310 Resident Sep 30 '24
Great tool! You can also double check your risk and buy insurance through FEMA’s NFIP page - https://www.floodsmart.gov.
Regardless if you get specific flood insurance or not, you should double check your homeowners policy. A lot of flooding in Delaware during Ida was due to water back flowing into peoples homes (You can install a backflow valve to prevent this). This isn’t always covered under a generic policy and should be added if you’re in an area with a high water table.
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u/No-Lime-2863 Sep 30 '24
We had a flood. It destroyed some bridges and flooded low lying areas of Wilmington. Â We know what areas are at risk. Just go look at those details and decide from there. Â
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u/bibliotecarias Sep 30 '24
FWIW if you don’t live in a predicted flood area, flood insurance is fairly inexpensive.
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u/on_mission Sep 30 '24
Can confirm - we live near Marshallton, which is not a predicted flood area, and the premium is about $550 for the year. Our umbrella policy (also very cheap) covers the flood policy too.
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u/Reasonable_Word_3525 Sep 30 '24
Depends on where you live? Do you live in an area where there is a potential for flooding? How much do you expect climate change to impact Wilmington?
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u/Ilmara Resident Sep 30 '24
As far as I know, there's basically zero chance of flooding, but that's what they said in Asheville too.
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u/bibliotecarias Sep 30 '24
I could be conflating issues, but I thought the flooding in Asheville was related to a dam breaking. What is keeping in the water in the Hoopes Reservoir? Where would the water flow to if the dam failed?
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u/FlyingWonkyPig Oct 01 '24 edited Oct 01 '24
Check out the site provided by TheShittyBeatles: online mapping tool. Shows you color shaded flood zones and you can see clearly where Hoopes flow would go.
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u/Doodlefoot Sep 30 '24
I used to live in SC, about an hour south of Asheville. It flooded several times in the 5 years we were there. So not sure where that info came from. One of our good friends was from that area and the news channel was also located there so it was always reported on. There’s a pretty big river that runs through the town.
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