Standard flood insurance has a ceiling. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will cover your home up to $250,000 and your belongings up to $100,000 — and not a dollar more. That was decent protection when those limits were set decades ago. In today’s Savannah housing market? For a lot of homeowners, it’s not even close.
Excess flood insurance is the fix. It’s a second policy that sits on top of your NFIP coverage and picks up where those limits stop, so a major flood doesn’t leave you rebuilding half a house out of pocket.
Run the numbers on your own home. If rebuilding it today would cost $450,000 and your NFIP policy maxes out at $250,000, you’re carrying a $200,000 gap — and after a storm surge event, that gap comes out of your savings, your retirement, or a loan you’ll be repaying for years.
This isn’t a problem reserved for waterfront mansions. Construction costs in coastal Georgia have climbed sharply, and plenty of ordinary homes now cost well over $250,000 to rebuild: raised beach houses on Tybee Island, newer builds in Richmond Hill and Pooler, brick homes on larger lots in Rincon, and just about anything in Savannah’s historic district, where period materials and craftsmanship drive rebuild costs far past the NFIP cap.
The contents gap is just as real. Furniture, appliances, electronics, clothing, tools in the garage — $100,000 disappears quickly when the first floor takes on water.
Think of it as layers:
A claim moves through the layers in order, so the two policies work together rather than overlapping. Some excess policies also add coverage the NFIP doesn’t offer at all, like additional living expenses while your home is being repaired — the NFIP won’t pay for your hotel, but many excess and private flood policies will.
One more option worth knowing: for some properties, a single private flood policy with high limits can replace the NFIP-plus-excess stack entirely, sometimes at a better combined price. Which route wins depends on your home’s elevation, location, and value — which is exactly why we quote it both ways.
You’re a strong candidate if any of these sound familiar:
Given today's construction prices in Chatham, Effingham, and Bryan counties, that's a large share of local homes.
Homes along the Savannah River, the Wilmington and Skidaway waterways, Thunderbolt's bluff, or the beach on Tybee carry both higher values and higher surge exposure.
Rebuilding heart-pine floors and original millwork downtown isn't priced like new drywall in a subdivision.
If your mortgage balance is above $250,000, NFIP alone may not satisfy the requirement — excess flood closes that gap.
Which is most of us. That's the honest test.
Usually less than people expect. Pricing depends on your home’s elevation, foundation type, distance to water, flood zone, claims history, and the limit you choose — the same factors that drive your base flood premium. Because the excess layer only pays after a truly severe event, insurers often price it more gently per dollar of coverage than the first layer.
A few ways to keep the premium down:
Excess flood policies follow the same rule as every other flood product on the coast: once a named storm enters the forecast, carriers stop binding new coverage. Waiting periods can apply too. If hurricane season is approaching — or already here — the time to layer up your protection is before the first advisory, not after.
We help homeowners with excess flood insurance across the greater Savannah area and the Georgia coast, including:
Savannah, Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Bloomingdale, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, Vernonburg, Rincon, Springfield, Guyton, Richmond Hill, and Pembroke.
From high-value marsh-front homes in Richmond Hill to raised beach cottages on Tybee Island and historic properties in downtown Savannah, we build flood protection that actually matches what your home would cost to rebuild.
Stacking flood coverage correctly takes some care: the excess policy needs to line up with your NFIP limits, your rebuild valuation has to be realistic, and the right answer sometimes isn’t excess coverage at all but a single private policy. We handle those details every day for coastal Georgia homeowners, we know which carriers write this market well, and we’re right here when you have questions — or a claim.
No. An umbrella extends your liability coverage. Excess flood extends your property coverage for flood damage specifically. Many homeowners benefit from both, but they solve different problems.
