A standard homeowners policy in Paradise does not pay for flood. Flood insurance is a separate policy, through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood carrier when one will write the house.
Paradise property owners and flood coverage
Paradise is a small Wise County town, about 475 people in the 2020 census, ZIP 76073. It is not a Gulf hurricane city. Flood here is about heavy rain, low yards, and creeks, not storm surge. A house can sit outside a mapped high-risk zone and still take water. The map is one rating factor. It is not a promise that the house will stay dry.
Lenders require flood insurance on many loans inside a high-risk zone. Outside that zone it is optional, and it is still the only policy that pays for rising water. Wind-driven rain through a damaged roof is usually a home claim. Water that comes in at ground level is usually flood.
Our Paradise office is at 3338 Texas 114, Paradise, TX 76073. Call (972) 798-3769, or see the Paradise office page.
National Flood Insurance Program basics for Paradise homeowners
An NFIP policy can cover the building and, separately, the contents. Building coverage is capped at $250,000 and contents at $100,000 on a standard NFIP residential policy. Those are program maximums, not a price. If the house would cost more than $250,000 to repair, ask about excess flood on top of the NFIP policy.
NFIP policies generally have a waiting period, often 30 days, before coverage starts. A loan closing can be an exception. Do not wait for a storm in the forecast. Basements and some below-grade areas have limited coverage. The policy form, not a brochure, lists what is left out.
What affects the flood premium
- The flood zone on the property, and the elevation compared with the base flood elevation when one is published.
- Foundation and first-floor height. Slab, pier-and-beam, and crawlspace do not price the same.
- Building limit and contents limit. Contents are a choice, not automatic.
- Whether a private flood market will compete with NFIP for that ZIP and construction.
We will not invent a Paradise flood average. The quote uses the address.
How this fits with home and auto
Keep the home policy for hail, wind, fire, and liability. Add flood only for flood. Auto comprehensive, not the home policy, is what usually responds if flood water damages a car. We can quote all three from the Paradise office so the deductibles are not a surprise after a storm.
Paradise flood history and map status
FEMA’s Community Status Book lists Paradise as a participating NFIP community (number 480503), with its first Flood Insurance Rate Map issued in 2011.
NOAA’s Storm Events Database logged 2 flash-flood reports, 2 river or areal flood reports, and 3 heavy-rain reports inside about 5 miles of Paradise from 2016 through 2025. The most recent dates to June 2017 around Cottondale.
Going back to 2000, Wise County has been included in 6 federal disaster or emergency declarations tied to flooding or tropical weather; the latest was Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds and Flooding (May 2015).
FEMA’s National Risk Index classifies inland-flooding risk in Wise County as “Relatively Low”.
Census survey data (ACS 2020–2024) estimate that about 36% of Paradise’s homes were built before 1980 and 30% since 2010. Structures that predate the first FIRM (2011) are rated as pre-FIRM, and that status can change how a policy is rated.
Across Wise County, FEMA tallies 156 residential flood policies in force across about 28,449 residential structures, or about 0.5% of homes. Inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area, 105 of 613 structures carry a policy (17%), which means most homes are uninsured for flood.
Census Gazetteer files put Paradise’s land area at about 2.1 square miles, with little or no open water inside city limits. It sits inside Wise County.
Paradise traces its official start to 1870. Wise County first appeared in a flood-related major disaster declaration with DR-648, Severe Storms and Flooding, in October 1981. Before 2000 the county was named in 4 flood-related major declarations in total.
