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"Flood, as used in this policy, means: 1. A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normaly dry land or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from......b. unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source...

1) was there a "flood"? Sounds like no.

This is why Grandpa's house was built on a crawl space.

The key word in the definition of FLOOD is "...two acres OR two adjacent properties.."

If the street adjacent to the insured risk flooded and the yard flooded we have two adjacent propertieis and it is a flood.  If the ponding which occured in the backyard also occured on the other side of the fence on the adjacent neighbor's property it is a flood.

Now for my CMA statement:  That being said, always check with the WYO claims manager before paying any questionable flood claim.

 

is water flowing through a swell in the yard and water flowing down the curbs by the street considered "flood". No doubt that these would qualify as 2 adjacent properties, but I lived in Houston for 13 years, and if that qualifies, then almost every house in that city had "flood conditions" every time it rained. You may just have water flowing down the curbs of the street that is only 6"deep and 1'-2' wide, and then having water at both swells beside the house that is about the same in depth and width, but is that going to qualify? Based on the policy language, one could make a good argument of such. Every house and street in the subdivision had that kind of water flowing next to it and in the street would probably be a "general condition"

Spot ponding is generally not considered a flood but if the water rushing down the sides of a house and out into the steet (two adjscent properties of normally dry land now with surface water) and the water gets into the house it would be a covered flood loss and excluded under HO. The water, however, would have to rise above the "swell" in the yard and actually "touch" the house for flood coverage to apply. If the water "seeped" in due to a high water table and did not touch the outside of the risk - CWOP.
IMHO

I know in Houston there are a ton of houses like Ray mentioned that are on 8"-10" slabs slabsand the top of the slab may be about 2' above the bottom of the swell. Houston knows how to throw a great rainstorm where you can get 2"-4" of rain pretty quickly and depending on the slope of the yard, how the water drains off of the house, what is in the backyard (ie a lot of concrete vs being able to soak into the ground), you can get those swells full of water easier then you might think. He is right is that almost all shouses built there in the last 20-30 years have privacy fences which are great, but can act as a dam for the water running out of the swells toward the front of house. The last house I had there was similiar to this, the back yard was 75' wide X 175' deep and there was a drive on one side (easy flowing) and the other side had 6' between the house and the property line/bottom of the swell/where the fence was. There was another fence that ran from the front corner of the house over to this fence and therein lies the "dam". After the first 3-4 heavy rainstorms and seeing the waterline on that fence of about 12"-14", reality hit me and I realized that a design like that could cause a "flood" as per the definition of the policy. Put in 6 area drains in the back and tied them into 2 4" drains lines that ran out to the curb and easily corrected the problem, but there were a few houses in the neighborhood that got water into them during Alison in 01 from that very thing mentioned above. Not a "general condition of flooding" under the old definition they had 25 years ago, but qualifies for it now.

Excellent accessment John