What do all Michigan home owners have in common? A need to make sure that their property and structures are insured against a variety of calamities. In Michigan those calamities are natural disasters that vary with the season and the geography. In the summer months, Michigan can be home to some very violent thunder and rain storms along with high winds. Sometimes, those storms can develop into violent and destructive tornadoes. Flooding is another disaster possibility facing property in the Great Lakes state. In the winter months, Michigan home owners have to battle natural disasters in the form of snow, ice, and sleet destruction. In order to rest easy, smart Michigan home owners keep educated about the types of property insurance they require.

One of the biggest threats to home owners in Michigan is flooding. The water wonderland state is surrounded by the Great Lakes, but is also made up of thousands of smaller interior lakes and rivers which pose more of a problem. Though there have been no recent calamitous floods in Michigan, home owners often battle the occasional flood, such as the cresting of rivers. Complications from flooding in the low lying areas are a constant source of worry for many. Generally, flooding in Michigan is limited to basements and first floors, but the result is still heart wrenching - and expensive.

Another climatic threat to home owners in the lower peninsula of Michigan is tornadoes. Though Michigan does not have as many or as severe a threat of tornadoes as some other Midwestern states, the threat does exist. Data collected since 1950 reveals the all too often destruction witnessed by Michigan home owners.

As in other states, geography means a lot. Though northern Michigan, especially the Upper Peninsula, does not suffer from tornado activity, southern Michigan does. Conversely, southern lower Michigan doesn’t feel as drastic the effects of snow, ice, and sleet.

Home owners in the Detroit area are not as affected by the severe natural weather disasters. Generally, flooding issues are sporadic, and most home owners may not even have to buy special insurance riders for flooding. However, sometimes that is not the case in other areas.

Lansing, Michigan’s capital, lies in a the more central area of lower Michigan and is spared some of the severe winter storm damage residents of Marquette, located in the Upper Peninsula, often face.

Like those all across the country, Michigan home owners simply need to discuss their individual needs with their insurance agents. As grandmother always says, an ounce of prevention is worth a whole lot of money.