Do you really need flood insurance in Hampton Roads?

It's on. It's off. For now, it's back on.

The major source of flood insurance for homeowners has limped along this year from one extension to another. The latest runs through Sept. 30 while Congress debates whether to extend the program for five years and impose several proposed changes.

A homeowner or prospective home buyer who is weighing whether to get flood insurance shouldn't wait for Congress to act. Some home buyers will need the coverage because mortgage lenders routinely require flood insurance when a home is in a flood-hazard zone.

And a lot of Hampton Roads is in such zones, subject to flooding during tropical storms, nor'easters and even extremely high tides.

The fine points of flood insurance and flood maps have taken on greater meaning for property owners in parts of Hampton Roads. Flood maps for Hampton were recently redrawn, and the process is under way in Suffolk and Newport News.

In Hampton, more than 1,700 properties and their structures were added to a new flood-hazard zone, while 2,568 were removed. An additional 2,734 properties were added to the new flood zone, but their structures remain outside the zone. The changes are scheduled to take effect by February.

What distinguishes flood insurance is the source. The federal government's National Flood Insurance Program makes the coverage available through private insurers and agents, who sell it and deal with claims. Conventional homeowners policies exclude any coverage for flood damage.

Home buyers and others seeking information about the insurance should start with the National Flood Insurance Program's Flood Smart website, www.floodsmart.gov. More detailed information about flood maps and flood-hazard zones is available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Map Service Center website, www.msc.fema.gov.

If you have a federally backed home loan, your lender may require it. Even if you aren't required to have the coverage, it's worth checking with neighbors and others about the flood risks where you live. Of the claims filed for flood damage, 20 percent come from homes outside zones designated as flood-hazard areas, said David Javier, a FEMA spokesman.

A quick way for determining the risk at a particular address is to use an interactive tool on the Flood Smart website. Fill out the "Flood Risk Profile" box on www.floodsmart.gov and get an estimate of your exposure.

An address in the 200 block of Tazewell Street in Norfolk's Freemason neighborhood, for example, produces a "high risk" warning because of the neighborhood's proximity to the Elizabeth River. An address in the 500 block of Holgate Crescent near the Eastern Branch of the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach has a "moderate to low" risk of flood damage, according to the search engine.

The maximum amount that the National Flood Insurance Program provides is $250,000 for a home and $100,000 for the contents. Private insurers offer additional amounts for homeowners who already have coverage from a National Flood Insurance Plan policy.

The deductibles are typically $1,000 for the building and $1,000 for the contents but can be higher.

The program also provides coverage for renters, condo owners and owners of commercial property.

It depends on your exposure to flood damage and how much coverage you buy. The annual cost of a standard policy with the maximum coverage for a single-family home and contents in a moderate-to-low-risk zone is $1,489.

The cost of maximum coverage for certain policies in a moderate-to-low-risk area can be as low as $355, but the premium jumps to $5,700 a year for a home in a high-risk coastal zone.

A comparison of the premiums by flood-zone category is available at www.floodsmart.gov by clicking on "residential coverage" and "policy rates."

Some Hampton Roads property owners are having to pay higher premiums when renewing their policies.

Nationwide, the average increase for policies written or renewed since Oct. 1 is 8 percent, said Megan Paradis, personal lines manager at S.L. Nusbaum Insurance Agency in Norfolk.

It's available from most agents who sell homeowners coverage. The Flood Smart search engine for determining the flood risk of a property also lists agents who sell flood insurance. These agents use the same rates, deductibles and terms defined by the National Flood Insurance Program, so it doesn't help to shop around for a lower rate. However, it's important to talk with an agent about the specifics of a flood policy, said FEMA's Javier.

Check FEMA's Map Service Center at www.msc.fema.gov. The site allows you to call up maps and provides a key that defines the letter designations for flood zones.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com