Between April 16-23, property owners in the state of Texas filed 8,120 flood claims totaling more than $43 million in claims paid following the week’s historic rainfall event, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Fifty homeowners in Montgomery County applied for FEMA’s buyout program following the floods.

Because homeowner insurance policies do not cover flood damage, Congress enacted the National Flood Insurance Program in 1968 in hopes of mitigating the costly effects rising water can impose upon property owners. Although only 22 percent of land in Montgomery County is within a flood plain, flooding can happen anywhere at any time.

“When you drive by a place like Timber Lakes/Timber Ridge and you see homes that have had 3 and 4 feet of water in it, and those people with everything they own out there at the curb because it’s destroyed—without insurance, most people could not recoup from that,” Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal said. “Flood insurance is critical.”

For more information on how to obtain flood insurance, contact a local insurance agent or visit www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program.