Disasters Special Report.(having personal property and casualty insurance)(Brief Article)

If you were reading the newspapers early last month, you probably saw stories about rising river crests in the Upper Midwest. In Minnesota, North Dakota and other Midwestern states, snow runoff coupled with heavy spring rain threatened to inundate towns that had been severely damaged by flooding as recently as 1997. We probably all remember the photographs from Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the spring of that year. Historic buildings in the city's downturn burned uncontrolled while several feet of water covered street-level ground.

No amount of insurance can reduce the human toll that natural catastrophes take. But when the waters recede, those that are insured will at least find comfort in knowing they have the financial resources to get back on their feet. The National Flood Insurance Program, private flood insurance, earthquake insurance and hazard insurance all help homeowners, and secured lenders, rest a little ...