What will insurance pay?

Jeff Ayres in the Reno Gazette-Journal.com: Scores of Mississippians should get a better sense in coming weeks of whether their insurance policies can help them recover from flood-related damage - and what those policies won't cover. The latter is important because private insurers generally don't offer flood coverage for homeowners, says state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney.

That leaves the National Flood Insurance Program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as the primary option for people whose homes have suffered flood damage. Because water remains high in a number of areas, the number of flood-related claims filed or expected to be filed in the state for homes, businesses and crops haven't been determined.

As of March 31, the most recent date for which figures are available, there were 75,174 NFIP policies in effect in Mississippi, according to FEMA. But Chaney estimates less than half of those in flooded areas along the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers have some type of flood coverage. "Most of them (have) low-income houses, and (people) just move on and try to rebuild," he said, adding they often can't afford flood insurance….

Tunica Riverpark and Museum at Tunica Resorts in Tunica County, Mississippi, with a barge passing by on the Mississippi River. Shot by Thomas R Machnitzki, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license