Your San Diego Property Could Be At Risk During El Niño. Is Your Insurance Policy Ready?

Wind, rain or flooding caused by predicted El Niño conditions this winter may result in significant damage to buildings and cars. There has been no shortage of warnings, from declared states of emergency by the governor and San Diego mayor to multiple weather advisories.

“Chances remain high for a historic event that would exceed the strength of previous El Niño events dating back to 1950,” a federal weather advisory announced this month.

Even without an El Niño condition, an analysis by climate risk financial modeling firm First Street found that 9,425 properties, or 3.5%, in San Diego are at risk of flooding over the next 30 years, due to various kinds of flooding, including heavy rainfall and coastal overflow due to storm surges, high tides or sea-level rise.

What many homeowners and businesses may not realize, though, is that damage from weather-related flooding is not covered by most insurance policies. Moreover, flooding is an underestimated risk across the state, leading people to not insure or underinsure their properties, according to a report by insurer Neptune Flood.

“Unlike many of the states with the highest flood losses, California’s flood risk is not driven by hurricanes, but by recurring, non-tropical events: including riverine flooding, intense rainfall, and atmospheric rivers, making it one of the most flood-exposed non-hurricane states in the country,” the report said. “Because flood risk lacks the headline presence of fires and the ever-present fear of earthquakes, it is often treated as a temporary disruption rather than a core, persistent threat. When flood risk is overlooked, insurance coverage tends to lag reality.”

San Diego flood insurance broker Aaron Farmer said people sometimes misunderstand the risks.

“Most people here in San Diego think it’s never going to flood. It’s not going to hit me,” said Farmer, the president and CEO of California Flood Insurance Services, a brokerage and insurer. “I like to say, Mother Nature doesn’t know what zone you’re in. The water flows. And when it flows, it causes a lot of damage.”

Homes with federally-backed mortgages and in FEMA-designated high flood risk areas, which are in parts of San Diego County, are required to have flood insurance. But for other homeowners and renters, getting flood insurance is optional. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s San Diego map shows flood zones at msc.fema.gov/portal/search?AddressQuery=san%20diego. Shaded areas that start with A or V are high risk.

Only a small fraction of the county’s housing stock — roughly 6,900 to 8,400 residential properties, depending on whether individual or multi-unit policies are counted — currently have FEMA-backed National Flood Insurance policies; private flood insurance is not a part of that estimate.

Should you opt in and buy flood insurance, even if you’re outside those areas?

The San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed Farmer and consulted federal insurance resources to learn what coverage is recommended for San Diegans.

Here are things to know about flood policies and related insurance coverage amid El Niño conditions.

Your home insurance policy is not enough

“Maybe the biggest misnomer out there is that people wrongly assume their homeowner’s insurance covers flooding. And it may, but that flooding that your homeowner’s covers is when you have, like, a broken pipe,” Farmer said. That sudden or accidental discharge of water is different from floods brought on by a storm, he noted.

Conversely, flood insurance doesn’t cover excess water within a home caused by pipes — which a homeowner’s policy would. The two should ideally dovetail, but do not overlap.

“The cause of flooding matters when determining coverage,” a government flood insurance FAQ page states. “For example, your (flood) policy would cover water damage to your home from a sewer that backed up during a heavy rainstorm. It would not cover damage from a sewer backup caused by clogged pipes.”

Low risk doesn’t mean no risk

A glance at San Diego’s flood-prone zones might create a false impression that only small slivers of this city are subject to flooding.

Certainly, the four areas on that city map — Sorrento Valley, Fashion Valley, Chollas and the Tijuana River Valley — are at greater risk than other areas because of their low altitude and topography.

But flood damage has happened far from those regions.

During the catastrophic flooding of 2024, caused by a historic storm that brought a record 2.73 inches of rain in 24 hours, Chollas was very hard hit, but so were other neighborhoods not on those flood-prone maps, such as Rolando Park and Barrio Logan. Early this year, parts of South Mission Hills, along Reynard Way, also flooded.

“I think a really important point to be made is that based on the national flood insurance program, 30% of all claims happen in low-risk flood zones. I think that’s critical,” Farmer said.

The takeaway: Being outside a designated high-risk zone does not mean risk is minimal. Flood zones evolve and floods don’t obey map outlines.

A neighbor’s home might be marked as high risk, but your property could also be affected, Farmer said.

“The water’s going to go somewhere,” he said.

That path, he added, might include your property.

Public and private coverage options

Public flood insurance is managed by FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and can be bought from agents and brokers authorized by FEMA. Several large insurance companies — including Allstate, Liberty Mutual and USAA — write and sell national flood insurance policies through FEMA.

Private policies are not managed by FEMA. (In California, most private flood insurers are non-admitted, or surplus, insurers, meaning they are regulated differently from admitted carriers, among several distinctions.)

There are a few key differences between public and private flood policies.

First, a similarity: Both public and private options can cover a building and its contents, depending on the policy.

Here are four differences.

For FEMA-managed flood insurance, “Building policies cover up to $250,000 of flood damage, and contents policies cover up to $100,000 of flood damage for belongings kept inside your home,” the government’s website says.

Private policy coverage limits can be far higher. Private insurance can also cover loss of use in cases where a home or its objects are inaccessible, Farmer said.

NFIP residential policies cost from $800 to $3,500 a year, while private residential flood policies cost between $600 to $2,800 a year, according to Flood Insurance Guru, a national agency in Georgia. These estimates are based on typical properties in high- and medium-risk zones with replacement values between $200,000 and $500,000.

Costs in California are higher. NFIP policies average $1,015 a year in this state, but $976 across the U.S., according to NerdWallet. The lowest premiums, at $428, are in Alaska. Vermont’s average of $1,697 is highest.

“In many cases, private is more competitively priced because they are able to pick and choose who they want insure,” Farmer said. “The government policy must insure anyone who wants the coverage,” he said.

The government takes higher risk cases and spreads risk and cost across policies, so those policy prices are higher than private ones, he explained.

Farmer used himself as an example. He recently bought a flood policy for his single family home in Escondido, in a low risk zone, for $500 a year. It includes a $350 premium and policy fees. “For some low-risk zones, there can be comparable premiums” from public flood insurance providers, he said, but the coverage amounts would be much lower.

If someone has a federal flood policy but needs more coverage, private companies sell excess flood policies.

Premiums for public insurance have been rising as participation has fallen, the report by Neptune Flood said. “Average NFIP premiums in California have increased by more than 33% since 2016, driven by FEMA’s transition (involving risk-rating methodologies), intensifying affordability pressures in an already high-cost state,” the report said.

On the other hand, Flood Insurance Guru, a trade website, says public premiums can increase by up to 18% per year, while private policies have no cap.

“If a private insurer’s data shows an increased risk in your area, or if they experience high claim payouts across their entire portfolio, they can increase your premium significantly more than 18% in a single year,” the website says. Properties that meet elevation criteria, are new and built to the latest codes, and have flood mitigation features — like certified flood vents or improved drainage grading — will likely have more consistent premiums from private flood insurers, the website adds.

It also points out that a flood policy’s cost can be less if the property owner reduces the home’s risk of damage from flooding.

“Elevate your water heater or electrical panel, so they are less likely to be damaged in a flood. Getting an elevation certificate, which documents your building’s elevation, can also lower the price,” the website says.

Some areas of a residence aren’t covered by federally backed flood insurance, but they can be included in private plans. These include pools, outdoor structures, hardscaping and landscaping.

“In California, where wildfire, burn-scar runoff and flash flooding can send mud and debris through a yard, the cost to restore landscaping and hardscape can be significant — and it’s on you unless a policy specifically adds it,” California Flood Insurance’s guide says.

While the public plans must provide flood insurance for communities that participate in the National Flood Insurance Program, private plans can decline coverage. And they “typically” will, after a claim.

“One honest caveat: Private and Lloyd’s carriers typically non-renew after a flood claim. If your home has a prior flood claim or a repetitive-loss history, the NFIP is usually the right home for your coverage, and we’ll tell you so,” California Flood Insurance’s online guide says.

Factor in the waiting period

Policies from the National Flood Insurance Program typically have a 30-day waiting period, from the time the policy is purchased to when it goes into effect.

Wait times for private policies are often seven or 10 days, Farmer said.

“You can’t wait until the rains are coming and then decide to buy a policy,” he added, likening it to dental insurance.

There are some exceptions. If someone buys flood insurance while a mortgage is issued, increased, extended or renewed, there is no delay for a public flood insurance policy to kick in.

Likewise, there is no delay if someone changes coverage as they renew their policy. And in some cases, there is a one-day waiting period if a property being insured is in a newly designated high-risk flood zone and the policy is bought within 12 months of that designation, or in some cases, if a flood is caused by a fire on federal land.

Coverage for HOAs, renters and cars

As with a single family home, if a homeowner association is in a FEMA-designated high risk flood zone, the association must buy a flood policy. Under FEMA’s Residential Condominium Building Association Policy, a condominium association must carry building coverage equal to the lesser of one of these two options:

“Effectively, the HOA has to do one of the two above: Either take the number of units multiplied by $250,000 in coverage or they can take 80% of the building’s full replacement cost,” Farmer explained. The full replacement cost can be derived from an existing fire policy.

If a condo complex is not within a high-risk flood zone, HOAs should still give some thought to getting flood coverage. Meanwhile, an individual homeowner within an HOA can also buy a separate private flood policy if the property is not in a high-risk flood zone, or to obtain more coverage.

“It is our experience that most homeowner associations do not cover contents because the HOA doesn’t own them,” Farmer added in an email. “For those unit owners who are concerned about their contents, we typically provide a contents policy separate from the association that covers the structures and is purchased on an individual basis vs. a management company that helps run the HOA.”

Renters, too, can access public and private flood insurance.

“Renters flood insurance policies protect the things you own inside your home,” a federal flood insurance page says. “They protect things like your furniture, clothes, television, computers, rugs and some artwork. This type of coverage protects your belongings for up to $100,000 of damage, this is also called Contents Coverage.” Artwork, jewelry and other precious objects have a coverage limit of $2,500 in NFIP renter policies.

As for cars, those aren’t covered by flood policies sold for real estate. Instead, comprehensive coverage in an auto insurance policy can protect against losses from flooding, rains, hail and other storm damage. That’s according to Progressive.com.

Comprehensive coverage “can protect your vehicle against water damage caused by flooding, heavy rains, hail, and even tree branches blown down during a storm. While comprehensive is optional, a lender usually requires it if you finance or lease your vehicle, and it’s the only coverage on your auto policy that can cover your vehicle against weather-related issues. A deductible applies.”

HELPFUL LINKS

California flood insurance information: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/140-catastrophes/FloodFacts.cfm

To purchase government flood insurance, head to a broker or go to this government website: https://www.floodsmart.gov/

Flood insurance guide: https://californiafloodinsurance.com/guides/

©2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The post Your San Diego property could be at risk during El Niño. Is your insurance policy ready? appeared first on Insurance News | InsuranceNewsNet.