While people without flood insurance will still be eligible for assistance payments from FEMA and potentially other aid approved by Congress, many homeowners will likely only receive a tiny fraction of the cost of the damage they suffered.“We’ve never had anything to this nature,” said Jay Zembower, a Seminole County commissioner, calling the flooding “a 500-plus-year event of quick rainfall in a short window of time.” Polk County has counted about 3,000 buildings damaged in the storm, Orange County has tallied about 1,200, and Volusia County on the state’s eastern coast has at least 4,000 damaged, county officials said.But much of that damage in Seminole County, at least, was from wind and debris, which is covered by typical homeowners insurance policies, and not flooding, the county spokesperson said.Homeowners are generally required to purchase flood insurance if they live in a FEMA-designated flood zone and have a federally-backed mortgage.Experts like Wright said that the widespread damage from Ian should be a wake-up call that far more homeowners around the US need to purchase flood insurance – even if they don’t own a waterfront property."