reporter: that s because they live in what s called a 500-year floodplain. that means the chance of this area flooding was less than 1% each year. when we asked about it, just to make sure we covered our bases when we moved in, they almost laughed. you know, like, ton of money. you don t need that. we would have had it if we knew this would happen or even had an inkling it might happen. really i don t think we even had that. reporter: they likely represent a significant portion of flood victims. authorities say it s still too early to know how many affected homes didn t have flood insurance. but the devastation was so widespread that it went beyond places prone to flooding. something that s kind of beyond our imagination, beyond something you could even fathom. it s understandable that people didn t sign up for flood insurance in those cases. reporter: but right now they aren t thinking about their lack of insurance. they re still trying to keep more water from getting into
reporter: these pictures show part of the aftermath. they estimate the damage to be about $100,000. but jessica and her husband had opted against flood insurance. when you moved to this area, did you ever think if you had heavy rains that the home could flood? not a chance. reporter: that s because they live in what s called a 500-year floodplain. that means the chance of this area flooding was less than 1% each year. when we asked about it just to make sure we covered our bases when we move in, they almost laughed, you know. a ton of money. you don t need that. we would have had it if we knew this would have happened or if we even had an inkling it might happen. really i don t think we had that. reporter: they likely represent a significant portion of flood victim. authorities say it s still too early to know how many affected homes didn t have flood insurance, but the devastation was so widespread that it went beyond places prone to flooding. something that s kind of be
area flooding was less than 1% each year. we asked about it just to make sure we covered our bases when we moved in. they almost laughed. ton of money, you don t need that. we would have had it if we knew this would happen. or even if we had an inkling that this could happen. reporter: they represent a substantial portion of flood victims. authorities say it s still too early to know how many affected homes didn t have flood insurance. but the devastation was so widespread that it went beyond places prone to flooding. it s something kind of beyond our imagination, beyond something to fathom. it s understandable that people didn t sign up for flood insurance in most cases. reporter: but the beakoms are still trying to keep water from getting into their house and hoping to find any precious
i will update you on three important areas: new orleans proper. we heard a news conference every single new orleans police department officer showed up for work. the city appears to be safe. they were able to arrest a couple of looters. that is it. that kind of trouble they have not had. there is area flooding. you can see damage to homes. a number of structures were damaged in one way or another. a lost trees are down. there are a lot of trees down. there are a lot of power lines down. part of the city are without power. the central business district and the french quarter have power. everything is up and running. most stores are closed. most businesses are closed. most people are at home. mostly what you see on the street are police and the national guard. just seconds ago, the storm was downgraded to a tropical storm. winds have gotten below 74 miles per hour. that is a technical matter