Storm, Flood and Inundation
Damage to buildings, plant and stock from storm, cyclone, flood, inundation or earthquake, under the perils built into a standard fire or Bharat wording.
Also calledSTFI · Storm, Tempest, Flood and Inundation · Act of God perils · Earthquake (Fire and Shock)
First thing, todayPhotograph the water line before anything is pumped out or moved, and keep the damaged stock until the surveyor has seen it.
- Tell the insurer now, not after the assessment.
- Photograph the water line before it dries and before anything is cleared away.
- Every document within the time the insurer asks for it.
When you would claim
- Rain water or flood water entering the premises
- Storm or cyclone damage to roofing, sheeting or signage
- Stock damaged where it was stacked on the floor
- Earthquake damage to the structure or to plant
- Landslide or subsidence where the cover extends to it
What insurers most often rely on
- Water entering through an opening that was left open, which is read as seepage rather than inundation
- Stock stored on the floor where the wording asks for it to be stacked clear of it
- Damage said to be gradual dampness or rising damp rather than a sudden event
- Underinsurance, because stock is usually at its peak in the season these losses happen in
- Cleaning and drying costs claimed without a bill behind them
Every one of those is answerable, and several are decided by what was done in the first two days rather than by anything argued later.
The documents
most of it exists already12 items, and most of them exist somewhere in your own office already. Assemble them once and properly; a file sent in pieces takes three times as long to settle.
- Claim form, policy schedule and the full wording
- Photographs and video showing the height the water reached
- The met department or district record for the day, where available
- Stock statements for the months either side of the loss
- Purchase invoices for damaged stock and for damaged plant
- Salvage details, and written agreement on what happens to it
- Drying, cleaning and de-silting bills
- Repair estimate for the building and for the machinery
- Municipal or panchayat record of flooding in the locality, if any
- Details of any other insurance covering the same property
- Cancelled cheque and bank details in the insured's name, for the NEFT payment
- A claim bill: the amount claimed, itemised, with the working behind it
Next
Fire Claim: The First 72 Hours, and what it shares with this
There is no flood playbook yet, but the first night is the fire playbook's: photograph the water line before it dries, and move nothing that can be left.
Check the sum insured
This cover carries an average clause. Declare less than the value at risk and every claim pays that proportion short, a partial loss exactly as much as a total one. Three numbers will tell you where you stand.
Filed under: Property and engineering · Storm, flood and natural catastrophe
Claims that sit next to this one
the same premises, or the same eventFire and Special Perils
where these perils usually live
Business Interruption
the weeks after the water goes down
Inland Transit
goods caught in transit by the same weather
Water through the premises and nothing recorded yet? Report a loss or call 92514 56334.