NFIP & Private Coverage for Shreveport Homeowners
Flood Insurance in Shreveport, LA
After the March 2016 flood, Caddo Parish households filed 715 requests for FEMA disaster assistance and just 246 flood insurance claims. That gap is the difference between being helped a little and being made whole.
Most Shreveport homeowners should carry flood insurance. In the City of Shreveport's own report on the March 2016 flood, more than 178 homes inside the city limits reported damage, and Caddo Parish produced 715 FEMA Individual Assistance claims against only 246 flood insurance claims. Homeowners insurance never covers rising water, so a separate NFIP or private policy is the only real protection.
- Caddo Parish filed 715 FEMA aid claims in 2016 but only 246 flood insurance claims.
- More than 178 Shreveport homes reported damage in the March 2016 flood.
- Cross Lake and Wallace Lake both hit their FEMA 100-year elevations that week.
- Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage. You need a separate policy.
The Root Agency provides flood insurance in Shreveport, served from our Baton Rouge office and licensed across Louisiana.
Why it floods here
Why Did So Few Shreveport Households Have a Flood Claim to File?
Because most of them were never told they needed one. The City of Shreveport's own account of March 2016 lays the numbers side by side: 715 Individual Assistance claims to FEMA across Caddo Parish, and 246 flood insurance claims. Disaster assistance is not insurance. It is capped, it is discretionary, and it is designed to keep a household afloat — not to rebuild a house. The families with a policy had a different March than the families with a grant application.
The water that week did not come from one place, which is why so many people were caught outside a mapped high-risk zone. Torrential rain began 8 March, with 13.14 inches recorded at Southern Hills and 11.51 inches at Shreveport Regional Airport. On 10 and 11 March, Cross Lake and Wallace Lake both reached their FEMA 100-year elevations. Days later, on 15 and 16 March, Twelve Mile Bayou and Cross Bayou crested inside the city and pushed backwater into low-lying parts of Allendale and the MLK neighborhood. Caddo Lake drains down Twelve Mile Bayou toward Shreveport, so a wet week upstream arrives here on a delay. Flash flooding first, backwater second — two floods, one storm.
What it covers — and what it doesn't
What Flood Insurance Covers in Shreveport
Building Property Coverage
Structure, foundation, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, water heater and built-in appliances, up to your policy limit.
Personal Property Coverage
Furniture, electronics and clothing once water reaches them; a separate limit, and the one people most often set too low.
NFIP Coverage
Federally backed flood insurance open to every Shreveport property owner, inside or outside a mapped high-risk zone.
Private Flood Insurance
Private-market policies that can beat NFIP on limits or price depending on the property. We show you both.
Preferred Risk Policies
Lower-cost coverage many Shreveport homes outside the high-risk zones qualify for.
Not sure what your current flood policy actually covers?
Why choose us
Why Shreveport Homeowners Choose The Root Agency
A city with two flood mechanisms needs an agent who can explain both. Shreveport gets fast water from intense rain and slow water from the bayous and the Red, and the paperwork that matters is settled long before either arrives. Steve Root has over twenty years with Allstate, the agency is licensed across the state, and Allstate's mobile catastrophe response stands behind the coverage. We'd rather spend twenty minutes now explaining what your policy pays than have that conversation in an inch of water.
- A Grant Is Not a Rebuild: Disaster assistance is capped and conditional. In 2016 Caddo Parish filed nearly three times as many aid claims as flood claims.
- Ask About an Elevation Certificate: It documents your elevation relative to the base flood elevation and can lower your premium.
- Watch the Bayous, Not Only the River: Twelve Mile Bayou and Cross Bayou crested days after the rain stopped in 2016. Backwater is a separate risk from flash flooding.
- Mind the 30-Day Wait: Most new flood policies don't take effect for 30 days, which makes a quiet spring week the right time to buy.
Where we serve
Serving Shreveport from Our Baton Rouge Office
The Root Agency has one office, on Goodwood Blvd in Baton Rouge, roughly 250 miles southeast of Shreveport, and we're licensed across Louisiana. There is no Shreveport branch and we won't suggest there is. Caddo Parish clients work with us entirely by phone, email and text — Bossier City, Blanchard and Greenwood on the same terms — and we read your flood map with you before anything is signed. Begin at our flood insurance page and review it alongside our home insurance page.
Ready to protect your Shreveport home?
FAQ
Flood Insurance in Shreveport — Common Questions
Sources
Talk to a Louisiana flood specialist
Tell us about your Shreveport property and we’ll review your options — no pressure, no obligation.