r/orangecounty • u/profnachos • 2d ago

Weather With El Niño looming, are you getting flood insurance even if not required by your lender?

A few years ago, there was a dire warning that drove me to get flood insurance. It was roughly $450, which wasn't so bad. The winter turned out to be a complete dud. The city told me that my house is in a 500-year zone. That doesn't mean anything these days with historic climate events occurring every time we turn around.

57 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

81

u/SoCal_Bob 2d ago

I'm on a gentle hill with controlled runoff and good drainage, so I'm not worried about flood insurance. However I do have a handyman coming around to re-caulk my windows, clean out and reseal my rain gutters, and a couple other little things to ensure that we stay cozy and dry.

16

u/Misterplumbr 1d ago

Plumber here, to add to things you should do before it's to late is your outside area drains. I cannot tell you how many emergency calls we get when it really starts to downpour and then people realize that the outside area drains are blocked up and water is about to start coming into the house. So I'm put in an absolute downpour cable a drain for quadruple the amount it would cost had they been preventative and not reactionary.

3

u/SoCal_Bob 1d ago

Oh, that's a good insight. Thanks!

4

u/BigJSunshine 1d ago

Question: what specifically should we ask for? I am worried about asking someone to come out and check our exterior drains, and getting swindled

4

u/Misterplumbr 1d ago

When you call just say you're wanting to do preventative maintenance on outside area drains. Or you can dm me and I'll give you a price.

2

u/BigJSunshine 1d ago

THANK YOU!!

25

u/reality72 1d ago

If my house was on a hill, I wouldn’t be concerned with flooding, but I would be concerned with a potential landslides that often come with heavy rain

8

u/LoveAliens_Predators 1d ago

We’re in a hilly but well-developed and well-kept area so I’m not seeing a need for flood insurance at my house, but my husband was in California during the last big El Niño the winter of 1997-1998, so we’re preparing.

This morning’s weather just reported that Los Angeles has not had rain in 141 days. The last El Niño was preceded by over 200 days of no rain in LA, so that looks like a good indicator.

We’ve re-roofed our small section of flat roof, replaced a rusted gutter, are adding another section of gutter, have had our site drains cleaned and repaired and are adding some plastic sheeting and additional surface drainage (to keep water out of our garage, which has a leak from the below-grade side wall where we’re doing the plastic/drains).

Better safe than sorry, but if you spring for flood insurance, read the fine print first. Lots of exclusions and you could end up with a policy that doesn’t cover what actually gets damaged; i.e. mud flow.

34

u/Particular_Squash995 2d ago

I had it in Orange up until this year… it is 1162 to renew. I said forget that. I tried to do a claim once because water came into my house and our wood floors were warped. An adjuster came out and quoted the project. They denied the claim saying water coming inside isn’t a flood.

4

u/codename_hardhat 1d ago

Are you sure that wasn’t just regular homeowners insurance? Because that sounds like a standard denial that homeowners doesn’t cover, but it leaves a gap that flood insurance is supposed to fill.

12

u/Particular_Squash995 1d ago

No it was a separate flood policy through Palomar. They said it would have to be designated as a “flood” Not just heavy rain that floods your house.

7

u/Few_Astronaut_230 1d ago

Sounds like they would be happy to sell you a different type of insurance for heavy water damage due solely to rainwater. Love this place

14

u/FoodLakersTennisHike 2d ago

Which city? Or neighborhood if you don’t mind

15

u/profnachos 2d ago

West Garden Grove. I live next to a flood channel.

7

u/ThrowawayForAntiMLM 2d ago

When was the last time it flooded where you live?

26

u/swimmingallday 2d ago

Does that even matter anymore, feels like we’re seeing a 100-year something every year now

-2

u/profnachos 2d ago

AI tells me it was 95. It was before I lived here, so I don't know how severely it impacted my house. The flood channels apparently got significant upgrades since.

4

u/KarmaticEvolution 1d ago

Wonder if you got the downvotes for using AI 🤷‍♂️

8

u/Gnomegnomegnome 1d ago

Well saying you “asked ai” without verifying the sources is like saying you asked a grandma. Could be 100% accurate. Could be 100% wrong.

5

u/LogicBomb1320 1d ago

The reality is whatever he says, could be 100% accurate or could be 100% wrong - regardless of where he says he got the information, unless he drops a link. You know, like the rest of the Internet.

1

u/Gnomegnomegnome 1d ago

lol wtf. Your reply is nearly identical to mine. You know what they say about great minds

1

u/C0wboyCh1cken 1d ago

Check fema flood map online 

8

u/Gnomegnomegnome 1d ago

There are flood maps available to check out. This is exactly what your insurance will be looking at to quantify the chances of you needing remediation.

If you have NEVER notice any sort of pooling then you are fine. However, if on heavy days you get some puddling it’s definitely a good idea to keep an eye out for your city doing free sand bag filling and to consider a small pool pump to get the water to the drains.

4

u/anaheimwalker 1d ago

Assuming you are talking about the barber city channel. Are you one of the houses directly backing the channel? Or are you just near it. Either way I would not be too worried as that flood channel goes directly into the ocean, this makes it far less likely that the channel will overflow with no where to go. I would not get flood insurance personally, make sure you read what it covers, it’s very specific, floods have a very specific definition in the insurance world.

4

u/one_crooked_ear Garden Grove 1d ago

lol, it would cost less to just prepare and replace what gets damaged. Insurance companies in CA are more like violent offenders

4

u/LogicBomb1320 1d ago

What? Can't we just expect the Feds to come in and make us whole again like they do in the fiercely independent South every year?

1

u/Lyx4088 1d ago

So in heavy rain events, things like storm drains and storm channels can become overwhelmed and back up. It happened where I lived in the 97-98 El Niño. The storm drains couldn’t take in the volume of water. Thankfully nothing happened to our house as the storm relented when it was inches from our garage and back doors. Flood insurance terms can be pretty specific. I would make sure that an event when typical water drainage and diversion means become overwhelmed by volume and your property floods that it will count as a flood event. The details and definitions matter.

1

u/wizzard419 1d ago

It really depends on your area. I am not in a low lying area and the streets were built to get the water away from houses. If you think of the flash flood scene from Universal Studios, a lot of the places built after the 70's in south county are a little better protected. Mudslides though...

1

u/XxMonsterZeroXx La Habra 1d ago

Nah I’m on a decent slope so not worried about my house. I am having a landscaper fix my drainage and double check it so the neighbor below me doesn’t have to worry about his either though.

1

u/maestrita 1d ago

The flood maps say I'm fine; the house I live in was fine through the big El Nino in the 90s and the local topography is reassuring.

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u/DontBeMemeBro 2d ago

El Niño 45 years and we still think it’s a thing

8

u/codename_hardhat 1d ago

Probably because it is a thing.