Overland Water Coverage offered by Portage Mutual
In line with other insurance companies such as AVIVA, Intact, Wawanesa, and Grenville Mutual, Portage Mutual now offers Overland Water coverage. Overland Water coverage “provides protection from damage caused by water that accumulates upon or submerges land which is usually dry resulting from:
The unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface water from any source, including torrential rainfall,
The rising of, breaking out or the overflow of any body of fresh water.”
This coverage does not include flood which is considered to be coastal flooding caused by salt waters.Currently, the Overland Water coverage is only available for Homeowners policies with Portage Mutual, but the company is looking to offer this coverage to other products in the future.How much coverage and the cost will depend on where you reside. Insurance companies determine this by working with flood catastrophe modeling companies to help identify risk zones which then determines how much coverage and the cost. Some areas in the province of Ontario do not qualify for the Overland Water coverage, and again this can vary from company to company.Below is a video on why basements flood from the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. The video does state that at that time there was no overland flood coverage, but since then insurance companies have been working towards and are providing Overland Water coverage. It’s also important to understand the difference between Sewer Backup and Overland Water coverage and which one responds in the event of water damage, varying from company to company. If you are a customer with our office and are interested in more information concerning Overland Water coverage, please call our office, stop by or click here to contact us and we will be more than happy to help you. For more information on how to protect your home from basement flooding click here for ICLR’s brochure.