LAFAYETTE PARISH — As hurricane season gets underway and tropical activity begins to stir in the Gulf, insurance agents in Acadiana are urging residents to double-check their flood insurance policies before storms arrive.
Marius Haydel, a New Orleans native who’s worked in the insurance industry in Lafayette since the 1980s, says many homeowners make a costly assumption: That their home insurance covers flood damage.
“Flood is its own animal,” Haydel said. “You cannot have a flood claim on your homeowner policy—and that’s the biggest mistake I think people make.”
Haydel explains that “flood” includes any water that rises from the ground or falls from the sky—such as stormwater, heavy rain, or hail. Standard homeowners' policies only cover certain types of water damage, like overflow from a burst pipe. Natural flooding, which can be devastating during hurricane season, requires separate flood insurance.
Another key detail many homeowners overlook is the 30-day waiting period. Unless the policy is tied to a mortgage requirement or home purchase, flood coverage doesn't take effect until a full month after it’s purchased.
“There’s a 30-day waiting period if you are not involved in some type of home closing,” Haydel said. “So if you called me today for a flood quote, and I wrote it today—your insurance would not be effective until July 30.”
Haydel adds that Acadiana’s flood risk isn’t just tied to weather patterns—it's also being reshaped by new construction. As new subdivisions are developed across the region, water flow patterns are shifting, and homes that previously never flooded are suddenly at risk.
“What’s going on with the old neighborhoods is these new neighborhoods are changing the flow of the land,” he said. “So the houses that weren’t flooding, before this new neighborhood came down the road from them, now it’s causing their houses to flood because they’re lower. It’s like a bowl.”
The rising flood risk comes at a time when the cost of coverage is already straining many Louisiana residents. Patricia Celestine of Abbeville says she’s had flood insurance for years—but the price increases are wearing on her.
“Yes, I do have flood insurance—but every year it gets higher and higher. It’s just ridiculous,” she said.
Celestine says she’s never filed a claim in her 47 years of marriage, yet continues to pay growing premiums. She worries about families who are left vulnerable because they simply can’t afford the coverage.
“I feel so sorry for the people that can’t afford it, ’cause there’s so many people that’d like to have it but they just can’t,” she said. “People that haven’t used their insurance, haven’t filed—they shouldn’t be charged the same as somebody that’s filed a couple times. Where’s all this money going? We could’ve saved it up!”
Haydel understands the frustration but says it comes down to managing uncertainty.
“Insurance is a risk,” he said. “You can never say that it’ll never happen—it’s just when or if it will.”
With storm season intensifying, Haydel encourages homeowners to act sooner rather than later—and not wait for a named storm to show up in the Gulf before making decisions about flood coverage.
