The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) defines “flood” as “a general and temporary condition where two or more acres of normally dry land or two or more properties are inundated by water or mudflow.” That’s different from domestic flooding type events (which the industry refers to as “accidental water discharge”). This domestic flooding includes such things as burst supply lines to the “bathtub, tub or toilet.” The latter events (when instantaneous in nature, and not due to “leakage and seepage” over a 14-day or longer period of time) are typically covered on a standard property policy, while a “flood” event as described by the NFIP requires specialized flood coverage. While the following are not technical definitions, a good shorthand tends to be to think of the first type of flood as water moving horizontally into the building from an external source (typically excluded), versus the second type of flood as water moving vertically within the building (often covered, subject to limitations set forth in the policy).
