When you file a water claim, the first thing the adjuster will look at first is the CAUSE of the water.
- Water damage from a burst pipe, a failed water heater, or wind-driven rain entering through storm-damaged roofing is usually a homeowners claim.
- Water that rises from the ground or arrives as surface runoff is a flood claim. The same puddle on your floor can be covered or excluded depending entirely on where the water came from.
You can remember the difference by whether the water is falling from above (water damage) or if it is coming up from below (flood damage).
Do I really need flood insurance if I don't live in a flood plain?
The idea that flood risk lives only inside mapped high-risk zones is wrong, and in Illinois it’s dangerously wrong. Nationally, from 2014 to 2024, nearly one-third of all federal flood-insurance claims came from areas outside high-risk flood zones.
Illinois is worse than the national average, because most of the state’s flooding is urban flooding — heavy rain overwhelming aging storm sewers, far from any river. Between 2000 and 2018, flooding cost Illinois more than $3 billion in damages - more that any state outside the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast!
IMPORTANT TRICK: You probably need to add TWO different policies to your insurance!
Standard homeowners insurance and renters insurance policies in Illinois typically do NOT include coverage for flood damage. This means that if your home or belongings are damaged by a flood event, a separate flood insurance policy is necessary for financial protection.
Sewer and sump-pump backup is another common way Kane County homes take on water. It’s excluded by both a standard homeowners policy and a standalone flood policy. It requires its own separate water-backup endorsement added to your homeowners coverage.
You can learn more about flood insurance and reputable companies from the Illinois Department of Insurance at https://idoi.illinois.gov/.../consumerinsurance/floods.html
