Is it time to rethink your flood insurance?
LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Many areas of East Tennessee are in recovery mode following the flooding in late February. So, what's next?
Ciaron Fitzgerald owns two Meineke Car Care shops. One is in Knoxville and the other is in Lenoir City. He only has flood insurance on his Knoxville location.
"This one does not have flood insurance, which is interesting because this one actually got slightly flooded, no damage or anything, very slight,"said Ciaron Fitzgerald, who is the owner of Meineke Car Care.
When water rose near his Knoxville shop, he felt relieved that he had insurance.
"We were looking at it going, 'We put insurance in place for this. It would be inconvenient, but it's okay we're covered',"said Fitzgerald.
His Knoxville location is in a floodplain, so he has insurance on it. Thankfully, he didn't need it there.
"It did not get flooded, but it came really, really close to it, maybe a foot,"said Fitzgerald.
His insurance company said not many people are buying flood insurance, even after the weather we just experienced.
ARI Agency Owner Melinda Brooks said people may want to rethink.
"We want to make sure everyone knows the potential in this area because we're now seen it,"said Melinda Brooks, who is the ARI Agency owner.
"We have proof."
Brooks said about 20 of her 1,000 clients are getting new quotes, even after seeing the damage flooding can cause.
"We're only looking at 1%, maybe, that are even concerned about it unless they were directly affected,"said Brooks.
As for Fitzgerald, he's thinking about re-working his insurance plan.
"It's a cost for sure, but the cost of the insurance is nothing when you look at trying to replace a building or equipment,"said Fitzgerald.
"I've got several hundred thousands dollars of equipment here, to replace that, you just can't start up again."
Brooks said it could cost you a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars per year to have flood insurance. It depends on your home or business and whether you're in a floodplain or not.