When a hurricane approaches Florida, Venice insurance agent Gary Finly starts getting the calls.

"You have a run of people wanting flood insurance added to their homeowners," Finly said. "But by then, it's usually too late."

Single-family homeowners in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties are among the biggest buyers of flood insurance in the country. Charlotte is, in fact, in the top 15 markets.

But does everyone who needs it have it?

Southwest Florida homeowners might be wondering after a federal judge in Mississippi ruled Tuesday that a Nationwide Mutual Insurance homeowners policy did not have to pay for flooding that destroyed a home during Hurricane Katrina.

Local insurance agents say there was no rush to get flood coverage on Wednesday, but people did show up last year after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast.

There was some method to that madness: The federal government says up to 25 percent of flood insurance claims are filed in low- to moderate-risk areas.

A standard homeowners policy covers damage from wind during a hurricane or other storm.

Flood insurance covers damage from a storm surge or from a heavy rainfall that brings water into a home.

While storm surges are most feared, it is flooding from inadequate drainage that is the real culprit, says John Daugenheimer of Sarasota's Insurance Service.

"I would guess that in Sarasota County 90 percent of all flooding events have been not from storm surge but from improper drainage," Daugenheimer said.

Flooding is the most common natural disaster in the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says.

The National Flood Insurance Program has paid out $16 billion in claims so far from the 2005 hurricane season, including $545 million from 20,861 claims in Florida.

The NFIP offers flood insurance to homes and businesses through local insurance agents. The average premium is about $500 per year.

But there are coverage limits, regardless of the value of the house being insured. On a home, the maximum coverage is $250,000 for the structure and $100,000 for contents.

Nonresidential buildings can be covered for up to $500,000 for structure and $500,000 for contents.

Premiums are based in part on whether the building is in a special hazard flood zone, such as barrier islands and other coastal areas, or a nonspecial hazard flood zones.

Each of those two zones contain areas designated for higher or lower risk.

Those areas were mapped, in some cases decades ago, by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Homeowners can learn their zones from insurance agents or county governments.

Agents often advise homeowners to buy flood coverage even if they are not in the higher-risk zones.

Those who live near drainage canals or retention ponds, for example, might face flooding during heavy rainstorms. Even people whose banks or other mortgage holders don't require them to have flood coverage could be at risk.

"The North Port area is a good example," said Finly of Finly Family Insurance Agency. "When it rained a couple of days ago the streets were completely flooded in the estates, and according to FEMA it's not a flood zone."

Four Florida counties -- Walton, Broward, Collier and Lee -- rank among the top five nationwide with the highest percentage of single-family homes covered by flood insurance.

Charlotte County reported the 14th highest penetration of flood insurance in the nation in 2004, when 59 percent of its 65,488 homes carried flood insurance.

Sarasota County ranked 27th with 39.7 percent of its 142,906 homes covered, and Manatee County was 30th with 38.7 percent of its 109,674 homes covered, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Unlike homeowners insurance, flood coverage can't be bound immediately. Unless it is a home purchase with a mortgage, there is a 30-day waiting period before a policy takes effect.

For some homeowners, flood insurance is mandatory. Mortgage lenders insist on it for homes in the special flood hazard areas.

For others, it is a choice that may come down to their ability to assume risk or their ability to pay.

Soaring premiums for standard homeowners insurance may be stopping some homeowners from buying flood coverage, said Sarasota insurance agent John Hlohinec.

"With homeowner rates doubling in the past year, I offer flood insurance and some people will take it and other people will say it comes down to dollars and cents and they just can't afford that extra coverage."

Homeowners can buy excess flood insurance on the private market to get more coverage than through the federal program. But agents say that availability is shrinking along with regular homeowners insurance in Florida.

"That market is very small on the barrier island at this point in time, and at very high rates," Daugenheimer said.

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By JOHN HIELSCHER

john.hielscher@heraldtribune.com

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