Illinois FEMA Flood Insurance Req.

Flooding is the nation's #1 natural disaster. In just the past 10 years (1996-2005), annual flood losses in the United States averaged $2.4 billion per year. Currently nearly 5 million policyholders are protected with flood insurance policies; however many more homeowners remain at risk.

Due to its catastrophic nature, flood damage is excluded in homeowners’ insurance policies.

Many homeowners mistakenly believe they are covered for flood losses, when in fact they must purchase flood insurance through FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in order to have such coverage.

NFIP policies are sold by property insurance agents, which means a producer must be up to date on the National Flood Insurance Program, its coverage, conditions and more. This is the purpose of the online continuing education course, Flood Insurance Made Simple.

This self-study CE course begins with a discussion of flooding and the disastrous damage it can cause, including:

• Definition of flooding and its causes;
• Who is at risk of flood damage; and
• Misconceptions about FEMA’s Natural Disaster relief.

From there, we delve into the National Flood Insurance Program:

• Flood coverage
• Definition of Flood Zones
• Low, Moderate and High Risk Flood Zones
• How to buy a flood insurance policy
• Underwriting
• Community rating
• Choosing a deductible
• What is insured against flood damage; and
• How flood damage is valued.

A large portion of this online CE course examines flooding in general – including specific cases of flooding and the damage caused. It is important for property insurance agents to be able to convey to homeowners that everyone is at risk for flood damage. Therefore, we make a significant effort to inform agents on:

• Flood misconceptions
• How floods can happen anywhere
• Causes of flooding
• Why homeowners cannot rely on disaster relief from the federal government; and

This continuing education course explores and describes the key elements of floods, flooding, and insuring against them through flood Insurance in general and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in specific. This concise study of floods and flood insurance provides students with interesting, informative, and applicable facts, figures, and real life examples of what Mother Nature dishes out. It also points out what people can and should do to deal and cope with the devastating consequences of floods. This CE course may satisfy the state CE requirement for NFIP (please check with your state to confirm the flood course requirements).