1. Standard homeowners’ insurance doesn’t cover flood damage AT ALL. It’ll cover some damage from rain, but if your home is filled with water as a result of rising bodies of lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans, it won’t cover you.

2. Flood insurance is mostly purchased from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). It's federally regulated program with two policies:

• One that covers your actual home (building property) up to $250,000
• One that covers your personal property up to $100,000

You can buy one or both.

You might have to buy it. If you’re taking out a mortgage on a property that’s in a high-risk zone (also called a Special Hazard Flood Area), your lender will require you to buy a policy in order to get the loan. If you just want to buy policy, you have to make sure your community participates in the national flood program. Flooding affects every state, so you’re probably eligible.

Essential systems in the home. This includes electrical and plumbing systems, furnaces, water heaters, central air conditioners, heat pumps, and sump pumps. It also includes cisterns and the water in them, fuel tanks and the fuel in them, solar energy equipment, water tanks and pumps.

Appliances – refrigerators, ranges, and built-in appliances like dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers are all usually covered. So are portable window AC/Hear unites, and freezers and food in them, however the food inside your refrigerators is not covered.

Carpeting and window treatments– if you have permanently installed carpeting over an unfinished floor, or any other kinds of carpets over wooden floors, if you have laminate flooring and hard wood flooring your policy should cover them. Your policy should also include window blinds and curtains.

Permanently installed paneling, wallboard, bookcases, and cabinets. If you have to replace your cabinets, your policy will pay only for the ones that were damaged. That means that if some cabinets were ruined but others were not affected you might have trouble getting cabinets that match the older ones.

Foundation walls, anchorage systems, and staircases attached to the building. There is an exclusion for “loss caused directly by earth movement even if the earth movement is caused by flood.”

A detached garage, used for limited storage or parking. You can use up to 10 percent of your total building coverage toward your garage, but that amount will be subtracted from the total amount of building coverage available to you.

Personal property. This includes clothing, furniture, and electronic equipment—though only if they're not stored in the basement.

Certain valuables. Your policy is likely to cover items such as original artwork and furs, up to $2,500 in value.

Other coverage. Some events are covered even if they're not strictly floods, like groundwater seepage and mudslides. These would include a neighbor's above-ground swimming pool collapsing and water flows into your home, or a water main break that damages your home and at least one other in your neighborhood. However, damage caused by a sewer backup is only covered if it's a direct result of flooding.

Federal flood insurance coverage is also capped at $250,000 per building and $100,000 for contents, though you can purchase policies with lower limits. Higher coverage limits are available for nonresidential structure and contents policies.