Westfield has introduced a new inland flood coverage endorsement aimed at closing protection gaps for US homeowners in areas outside traditional high-risk flood zones.
The property and casualty insurer said that it developed the product in partnership with a global reinsurer as part of its response to rising flood exposure linked to shifting weather patterns.
The inland flood add-on is designed to provide coverage for damage caused by flash floods, which have increasingly affected locations not previously identified as high-risk.
In parallel with the product launch, Westfield announced a $750,000 donation to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) to support flood recovery and mitigation efforts. The contribution includes $500,000 for national recovery initiatives and $250,000 directed to CDP’s Atlantic Hurricane Season Fund, which addresses flood-related needs during hurricane season.
Since 2016, Westfield has contributed more than $3.5 million to CDP. The insurer also operates a private foundation that distributes $3.5 million annually to nonprofits focused on disaster recovery and related support services.
Steve Butler, assistant vice president of personal lines product management and underwriting at Westfield, said the product responds to the growing unpredictability of flood events as flood risk is no longer confined to FEMA-mapped zones.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), more than 40% of flood insurance claims in 2023 originated from outside designated high-risk flood areas.
As of November 2024, the NFIP had approximately 4.7 million active policies, covering about 3.3% of U.S. households. This represents a slight decrease of 0.2% (10,721 policies) from November 2023. States like New Mexico saw a 25.4% increase in policies, while Utah experienced a 37.5% decline.
Throughout the previous year, nearly 99,000 NFIP claims were filed, with 74,272 resulting in payments. The average payout per claim was $33,905, totaling approximately $2.5 billion in disbursed funds.
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