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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has seen some up-and-down weather patterns over the past few months. Wednesday night a torrential rain storm doused parts of the state with nearly an inch of rain in a short period of time. With that came flooded basements for some Utahns.
William Penton, owner of Penton Insurance, has been a licensed insurance agent for the past 33 years. “I started in Louisiana and I’ve been in Utah since 1987,” Penton said.
Penton’s days consist of crunching numbers, detailing policies and educating people like first-time home-buyer Nathan Thomas, “I’m buying a house so I need insurance.”
Thomas sat with Penton on Thursday discussing his options for flood insurance. Thomas says, “You don’t think of Utah and water very often.” Like most Utahns, Thomas opted out.
People like Marvin Hall, however, knows that Mother Nature can take everything you own in an instant. “It was like tidal wave coming,” Hall explained about the eye-level water that turned the basement in his Woods Cross home into a swimming pool Wednesday night. “Everything you have is just poof -- gone in 15 minutes,” Hall said.
Thomas and Hall may have different outlooks on the need for flood insurance, but Penton says one thing that will likely stay the same is, “Flood insurance is a unique animal.”
Not only is it very expensive, “Probably going to be around 5-600 bucks and up depending on where you're at,” Penton says. “That’s on top of your homeowner’s policy.” Flood insurance is only offered by the federal government in Utah.
Even if your are covered, Penton said, it only covers your main level and above. “There’s limited coverage in your basement,” Penton said, “Your contents, anything you can pick up and carry out is not going to be covered. The only items in your basement that would be covered if you had flood insurance would be insulation, sheet rock, your furnace, washer, dryer, freezer, and refrigerator, and that’s about it.”
