CT saw catastrophic flooding this summer. Here’s why you may not have enough insurance.

Shocking images of flooding in southwestern Connecticut this summer stirred up fresh worries about climate change but also how homeowners and small businesses may need to protect themselves with extra insurance, even if they don’t live in an area designated at risk for flooding.

The federal government has reported that 25% of all property losses caused by flooding occur outside of areas officially mapped as vulnerable to flooding, a statistic that coincides with expectations for more — and violent — rainstorms in the years to come.

“So that’s a pretty substantial number,” George Bradner, director of the property and casualty division at the Connecticut Insurance Department, said. “And the other issue is 25% of small businesses by a catastrophe like this never reopen their doors again. So those are two staggering numbers.”

Decisions about whether to purchase flood insurance — either through the federal government or a growing number of private insurers — comes as the problem of flooding in Connecticut is now drawing increasing attention.

Earlier this month, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which represents cities and towns, issued a report recommending, among other things, that “towns should promote flood insurance coverage and other flood risk reduction strategies for properties outside the designated flooding areas.” No longer exclusively a shoreline a problem, the storms have become more unpredictable and moved inland with businesses and residents experiencing flooding at levels not seen in 50 years or more.

The storm that pummeled the Connecticut town of Oxford and surrounding municipalities in August dumped as much as 16 inches of rain in a short span of time, spawning devastating flooding. The weather was described as a “one-in-1,000-year” storm.

Scientists at the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation at the University of Connecticut in Groton also are examining how more sudden, intense rainstorms are overwhelming decades-old drainage systems, leading to more frequent flooding.

Bradner said homeowners and small businesses should not necessarily feel a sense of security if their properties are located outside of flood zones designated on maps. Those maps are maintained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

But the maps are not necessarily updated, Bradner said, and may not reflect swiftly evolving flooding patterns. The CCM report called for more frequent updates.

Flood maps are dynamic and do need to be updated, but the age of a map does not necessarily reflect its accuracy,” a FEMA spokesman said, in an email. ” Areas that need to be updated are identified in a process that is coordinated at the regional level with state and local partners.”

Nationally, FEMA receives about 1,500 requests a year to update maps, the spokesman said.

According to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, maps delineating flood zones are now updated by watersheds, rather than counties as they were a decade ago. A watershed is a land area that channels rainfall and snowmelt to creeks, streams, and rivers.

Among the maps currently being updated are for the Farmington River, expected to be ready in late 2025. And new, preliminary maps for the Housatonic and lower Connecticut River watersheds are forecast to be ready by the end of this year.

See FEMA maps here.

Updates incorporate new data on land cover, development, aerial photographs and land elevation.

“Technology gets better and better, which gives FEMA more refined datasets to use when they update the maps,” Diane Ifkovic, a DEEP environmental analyst, said. “As you can imagine, the flood maps made today are much better, more detailed and more refined than the ones done in the 1970s and 1980s.”

‘Getting our priorities straight’

Mortgage lenders already require flood insurance for properties that are being financed within designated flood zones. Homeowner policies do not generally cover damage and losses from floods.

But for those property owners outside those flood-designated areas, the decision whether to add flood insurance also comes at a time when homeowner insurance policy premiums are soaring in Connecticut and across the nation. When those policies renew, residential property owners are generally seeing double-digit percentage increases.

An analysis of flood insurance premiums offered through the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program by online personal finance company NerdWallet found that annual premiums in Connecticut were among the highest in the nation.

The average premium in Connecticut was $1,319, or $110 a month — more than 60% higher than the national average of $819, or $68 a month, according to the NerdWallet analysis.

Some risk factors that push premiums higher in Connecticut are likely to include a heavy concentration of the population along the coast and other major waterways. Property values also are higher and would mean steeper prices to rebuild.

Even so, the insurance department’s Bradner said homeowners who are near but outside flood-designated areas should seriously consider flood insurance.

“Insurance costs a lot of money as we’ve seen with rates going up,” Bradner said. “But how many people turn around and say they don’t have the money to spend on flood insurance, but then spend $30, $40, $50,000 renovating a kitchen or putting new bathrooms in? It’s getting our priorities straight and getting a little more centered around protecting our greatest asset.”

Chris Paradiso, owner of Paradiso Insurance, an agency in Stafford Springs, said he has watched the issue of flood insurance over the past 20 years become a larger and larger part of the consideration on how to insure a property.

Paradiso said he advises clients to at least look at the insurance, comparing the federal program to the coverage of private insurers — and the accompanying costs. One factor to consider is the deductible — the higher the deductible the lower the premium.

“What I advise people is, ‘Are you ok with a $10,000 deductible and paying $400 for a flood policy where you at least cover yourself for a couple of hundred thousand dollars?’ ” Paradiso said. “You can even go to a $25,000 deductible. Why? Because a $200,000 loss or $250,000 or higher — it’s much harder to swallow than a $10,000 or $20,000 loss. You can come back from that.”

‘The sun, the moon, the stars’

Experts say one way to get a handle around your risk for flooding is using an online assessment tool such as climate check that assesses individual property for various-climate related risk, including flooding. Once on the website, an address just has to be plugged in for a free report.

In addition to climate change, development also is changing the nature of how rainfall affects properties. Development — either commercial or residential — often is accompanied by surface paving that eliminates ground to soak up rain, leaving fewer places for it to go.

Bradner warns against relying on government disaster relief because it isn’t likely to come close to covering losses.

“The max now for individual assistance $45,000,” Bradner said. “But the thing is, the sun, the moon, the stars have to align perfectly for someone to be eligible for the total amount.”

In 2012, after Hurricane Sandy slammed into Connecticut, there were 8,715 applicants for FEMA storm-related aid, with about a third — 2,969 — eligible for that aid. Just 38 of those applicants got the maximum award, which at that time was $31,900. The average award was $5,156, according to state insurance department records.

“I hate it when people think ‘I’m going to be made whole,’ ” Bradner said. “That’s not the point of FEMA. It gets you up, gets you to move forward. It’s not to make you whole, it’s to help you. And that’s why you need to get flood insurance.”

Here are some tips on what is covered and what isn’t through the National Flood Insurance Program. Private insurers may provide coverage for some of what the government plan excludes.

For homeowners (including condominiums and townhouses):

What’s covered: Foundation, electrical and plumbing, appliances, electronics and personal belongings.

What’s not covered: Temporary housing and additional living expenses incurred while the home is being repaired or is unable to be occupied. Landscaping, wells, septic systems, decks and patios, fences, seawalls, hot tubs and swimming pools. Cars and most self-propelled vehicles, including their parts. Personal property kept in basements.

Coverage limits: $250,000 for the building and $100,000 for the building contents. These are typically purchased separately with separate deductibles.

For business owners:

What’s covered: Foundation, electrical and plumbing, equipment, furniture and inventory.

What’s not covered: Property outside of an insured building. Financial losses caused by business interruption.

Coverage limits: $500,000 for the building and $500,000 for the building contents. These are typically purchased separately with separate deductibles.

For renters:

What’s covered: Furniture, clothes, television, computers, rugs and artwork.

Coverage limits: $100,000 for contents-only coverage.

Reporting by Courant Staff Writer Christopher Keating is included.

Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at [email protected].

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