When It Rains, It Pours

Once it starts to rain, and the water is starting to accumulate and seep into your house, it’s a little too late to start thinking about water protection options.

And with unpredictable weather becoming more frequent, the possibility of unpredictable damages and costs to your home comes with it. As a consumer it’s important to know what exactly water coverage is and what it does.

Up until recently, most water coverage policies only covered in home water damage like burst pipes or sewer backups. However, with weather becoming more extreme due to climate change, aging buildings and continued urbanization, insurance companies now have to adapt.

Which is where Overland Water Protection comes in.

Aviva, Intact, Novex and RSA Insurance have all recently come out with this added water protection which on top of protecting against sewer backups and burst pipes, it will protect against rapid water accumulation from rain, rapid snow melt or over flow from lakes or rivers. Although it protects against a lot of fresh water flooding possibilities, the new coverage does not protect against natural water disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis, and salt water overflows like coastal flooding.

Most insurance companies will add the Overland Water endorsement mid-term to an existing policy that qualifies. Your property insurance policy must include the Sewer Backup endorsement as the primary responding policy form in order to add the Overland Water endorsement.

Currently this new coverage is only available for low risk homes which includes homes that are away from open water sources, have a high elevation and do not have portions of the home that fall underneath the flood level. An insurance broker can provide all exceptions and more detailed benefits about this coverage.

This new overland water protection could be very beneficial, especially when severe weather events are occurring more frequently and with more devastating results. Over the past few decades Canada has started to see more precipitation and with past floods like the ones in Alberta and Toronto, which had costly damages, this new protection could potentially save home owners incredible amounts of money.