Deadline For Harvey Insurance Claims Approaching

“If you are filing a flood claim with the National Flood Insurance Program, that deadline is one year from the date that the damage occurred.”

By Rhonda FanningAugust 21, 2018 3:49 pm,

As rebuilding from Harvey continues, a lot of that process relies on insurance. The Texas Department of Insurance reminds those affected by the storm – we’re coming up on a crucial claim deadline. Seth Chandler, professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center says if someone has property damage from Harvey, that deadline is coming up within the next few days.

“If you are filing a flood claim with the National Flood Insurance Program,” he says, “that deadline is one year from the date that the damage occurred. And since Harvey made landfall on August 25 for some people that will be August 25. For some others, where the flood occurred a few days later, it will be a few days later, but it’s soon.”

For people who are not sure what forms they need, Chandler says the process is pretty straightforward.

“The actual form is not that extensive,” he says. “But the problem is the backup. You need to have at least some documentation showing what property you lost, the furniture you lost, what the value of it was. That form needs to be submitted. It’s called a ‘Proof Of Loss’ and it needs to be submitted to the flood insurance program within one year of the actual loss.”

You can download theFEMA Proof Of Loss form directly from the FEMA.gov website. He also says that something policyholders need to pay attention to is where their policy was written.

“They need to be attentive to if their FEMA policy, their flood policy, was what’s called ‘directly written’ or whether it was written by an insurance agent. Because the place you file that claim depends on where it was written,” he says.

Chandler says that once you know where your policy was written, the FEMA.gov website will make where to send it clear.