Earlier this year three feet of rushing water came up from the nearby creek and into Norbert Heckman’s home.
The muddy water destroyed some things in its path, and rose as far as 18 inches.
He moved into his home in Indiahoma, which is in Comanche County, in 2008, and was told he could not get flood insurance by Humble Insurance Agency.
“When I asked my (insurance) agent if I could get (flood) insurance, he said I could not because I didn’t live in a flood zone,” Heckman said.
A flood zone, sometimes called a floodplain, is a low-ground area that is prone to flooding. In People who live in a community that is a part of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is a government-run program, also are eligible for flood insurance.
So, after Heckman’s house flooded during Memorial Day weekend this year, he had to get assistance elsewhere.
However, Comanche County Emergency Manager Michael Merritt said Heckman and all Comanche County residents were eligible for flood insurance because the county is a part of the NFIP.
“If we participate, then they (county residents) should be able to buy insurance from their insurance company,” Merritt said. “If they live in Comanche County, then they should be covered one way or another.”
Calls made to Humble Insurance Agency were not returned by deadline.
According to the NFIP website, the program is the main provider for flood insurance throughout the United States.
The site states “in order to qualify for flood insurance, the home or business must be in a community that has joined the NFIP and agreed to enforce sound floodplain management standards.”
In Oklahoma, 398 communities participate in the NFIP, while 115 do not.
Even though some communities are a part of NFIP and are able to get flood insurance, it doesn’t mean residents who live there have to purchase it. However, those who live in high-risk flood areas, such as floodplains, are required to have flood insurance, according to the website.
All major insurance carriers such as Farmers Insurance, AllState and State Farm, sell NFIP flood insurance.
However, Heckman and Lynn Bennett say the insurance companies they contacted told them that they can’t get or don’t need flood insurance.
Bennett moved to Indiahoma in 2007, and said her Farmers Insurance agent told her she was unable to get flood insurance because she didn’t live in a flood zone.
“I was told you can’t get flood insurance unless your house has been flooded before,” Bennett said.
Like Heckman, Bennett lives in Comanche County, which is an NFIP community, so residents should be able to get flood insurance.
A representative from Farmers Insurance in Lawton, who gave her first name but said she was not “at liberty to give her last name,” said she was not comfortable answering questions about NFIP insurance.
Elise Stansel, officer manager of Stansel Insurance Agency, Inc. and Allstate in Norman, was not surprised when she heard that other insurance agencies allegedly told customers they could not get flood insurance.
She said issuing flood insurance policies is a long process that many agents don’t like to do.
“Doing the quotes is kind of a pain in the butt, but we (at Allstate) do it for our costumers because it’s part of our job,” she said.
Though Heckman and Bennett wanted to purchase flood insurance and allegedly couldn’t others were eligible but chose not to because of the cost. Linda Clark and Darcy Good, co-owners of Hazel’s Bootique, are in that group.
The mother and daughter pair opened their store four years ago in downtown Purcell, but their building flooded this past spring and they had to relocate.
Purcell had not flooded in 25 years, so the two didn’t think they needed flood insurance.
Clark said she doesn’t understand why insurance companies wouldn’t offer flood insurance to everyone, regardless of where they live, because it’s more business for them — and more business means more money.
“It’s such a rare occurrence, so I wouldn’t anticipate that many people needing to use that policy,” she said. “So, think of all the money they would make in the long run … if they made the policy more reasonable, where more people could afford that coverage.”
Heckman said he knows flooding is a part of nature, and the engineers responsible for determining flood zones did their jobs.
“It doesn’t bother me, it’s just an anomaly of nature, it (the water) had to go somewhere … we had so much water,” he said. “It would be nice to have the insurance company to give you the opportunity to purchase flood insurance. My insurance company did not give me the option to purchase the flood insurance. … I would like to have had the choice of being offered flood insurance even though the area is not a flood zone.”
