Katrina victims lose in appeals court

[hambubba]

Flooding due to levee breach ruled "act of man", not covered by policies.

Hurricane Katrina victims whose homes and businesses were destroyed when floodwaters breached levees in the 2005 storm cannot recover money from their insurance companies for the damages, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

"Regardless of what caused the failure of the flood-control structures that were put in place to prevent such a catastrophe, their failure resulted in a widespread flood that damaged the plaintiffs' property," and policies clearly excluded water damage caused by floods, King wrote.

Ouch - that's gonna leave a mark.

Unless I'm misreading the article, the first quote is a little misleading. This ruling seems to apply to people who only had home-owner's (or business) insurance and no extra flood coverage. People with flood coverage should still be paid by their insurance company, although I am sure that the insurance companies will try to recoup their losses by suing the Corp of Engineers or something... Since the flooding was ruled an "act of man", does that mean that someone or some entity can be held financially culpable for the damages?

It is quite unfortunate that most people in the area probably could not afford flood coverage... however, in most insurance policies, the only water damage that is typically covered in hurricane situations is from wind-driven rain (water that gets in through the edges of doors and windows or under shingles) and water that comes in through an opening caused by wind (like if you have a tree through the wall or your roof was blown off). At least, that's my understanding of the typical coverages as explained to me by my DH (who was an insurance adjuster).