Civic Responsibility, Utah History

Time for Flood Insurance

Click to see original imageThis could be the last call for flood insurance.

With weekend temperatures predicted to be in the 70s and the start of next week in the 80s, runoff time is really here.

With so much warning that there is likely to be serious problems with this year’s runoff, no one could be excused for not buying flood insurance if there is any possibility that his property could be flooded.

Federal officials have indicated they are a little surprised that so few people in Utah have bothered to buy the flood insurance the federal government provides through private insurance firms.

With last spring fresh on our minds, this year’s incredibly heavy snowpack should be an incentive to protect what we have with insurance.

Last weekend’s snowfall was an unwelcome addition to already overburdened mountains and the experts now agree that there is a very high likelihood of problems this spring.

It is not a forgone conclusion that there will be heavy property damage. If we are lucky and have a gradual warming trend, runoff could be contained in regular channels, but it has been pretty cool so far, and the weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating.

Flooding this year could be worse than last.

Utahns earned a well deserved reputation for their unusual efforts to be self sufficient last year when thousands of volunteers organized under private and church leadership to mitigate flood damages.

Utahns were praised for their common sense and self sufficient attitude.

It seems that there are still many people with property in known flood plains who haven’t yet demonstrated either common sense or a self sufficient attitude.

Let’s hope they don’t wait until the water is lapping at their doors before they take a sensible precaution.

It doesn’t take a prophet to know that this year, some flood insurance is an excellent investment.