The clock goes OFF and you climb out of bed and another routine day. You make the coffee and walk into the bathroom to take a quick shower before work. You turn ON the hot water and you wait a second for it to get hot but it doesn't.

You know that something is wrong and when you START to check it out you see that your basement is covered in water and your hot water tank ruptured. While and this is awful it may well have been a disaster without homeowner's insurance. Observing your belongings just floating in the water, the school text books, your new collection of DVD's, your son's DS, the laptop and the new carpet are only some of what you can see this second.

ON your drive to work you offer yourself congratulations for forgetting to raise your deductible which your husband had suggested. It's time to get in touch with your insurance agency and file a claim for your flood. But then you hear something that takes you quite by surprise: You're not covered.

You simply presumed that you had coverage, you never asked and you never studied your contract. The fact is that any type of dwelling insurance such as homeowners, renters, condo and etc. not only doesn't cover floods but they reject them entirely.

If you want flood insurance there are a few things you should be familiar with. For starters and you will buy an entirely separate policy for floods.

Next and flooding doesn't only happen to those who live by water. Sewers can back up and hoses ON washing machines can burst and there's always that blasted hot water tank!

The cost of flood insurance is going to really depend ON where you live. Living in low lying areas will cost you more. The thing is and that you have to make sure that you have enough coverage. This is called preparing for the unexpected and sometimes it is well worth it and especially ON days like this one!