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Millions of Americans currently live in areas that put them at a higher than average risk for suffering flood damage, but many continue to not buy the kind of home insurance that will protect them from the financial fallout if they're hit with such problems. This fact was recently highlighted by the unfortunate situations of many people following severe flooding in some suburbs of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As such, insurance agents might want to redouble efforts to reinforce to their clients the importance of having this type of coverage in place, just in case something goes wrong.

The flooding that hit Lincoln County in mid-June affected about 1,100 people in all, and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels said that state data shows that the ""vast majority"" of victims don't have flood insurance policies on their homes, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. The problem with this goes beyond the damage caused by the flooding, which left as much as 18 inches of water in the basements of affected homes, and involves how preventable the issue was. 

A problem of perception?
In many cases, the issue that prevents people from obtaining flood insurance is that they either don't know about the need for it as a separate type of coverage from standard home insurance, and also that they might believe it to be more expensive than it actually is, the report said. For example, one such victim said that for just $10 per month, he could have been completely covered for this kind of incident. Instead, he's left to cover thousands of dollars in damage himself. In addition, many Americans are simply unaware that standard home insurance usually only covers water damage if that water falls from the sky, rather than from flooding, or even backed-up sewer systems.

Insurance agents who are able to successfully highlight to their clients the significant benefits of having flood insurance overall will likely be able to have more success going forward in a number of ways. Not only will they potentially see more business coming in, but they could also serve to significantly improve their customers' satisfaction with their coverage and service overall. Often, that leads to consumers recommending their coverage providers to friends and family, as well as being more likely to stay with that company for a longer period of time.

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