Waycross, Georgia

... Day 4 of 2010 National flood safety awareness week...

Your National Weather Service invites your participation in its
annual National flood safety awareness week, March 15-19, 2010.

Todays flood safety theme is determining your flood risk and
buying flood insurance to protect against loss. Everyone lives
in a flood zone... whether that risk be low... moderate... or
high. Over a typical 30-year home mortgage... floods are nearly
three times more likely to occur than a fire. Put another
way... your home has the same chance of being flooded as your
car being stolen... yet few people have flood insurance. Even
low hazard flood areas are at risk. About one in three flood
insurance claims each year are paid to homeowners living
outside of high-risk areas.

You may think homeowners insurance covers floods... but in
reality most homeowners insurance does not cover flooding...
and just a few inches of water can cause thousands of dollars
in damage. Homeowners... renters... and business owners are
eligible to Purchase flood insurance as long as their
community participates in the National flood insurance program or
nfip.

The nfip is a federal program enabling property owners to Purchase
flood insurance at reasonable rates. It takes 30 days after Purchase
for a policy to take effect... so it is important to buy insurance
before floods threaten. Now is a great time to buy flood insurance
ahead of the Summer severe storm and hurricane seasons.

For more information see the federal emergency management agency web
site www.Floodsmart.Gov.

To buy flood insurance... contact an insurance agent in your area.

Additional information about National Weather Service flood
warnings... advisories... and flood safety is available at
www.Weather.Gov/floodsafety.