Despite some US insurers refusing to honour claims from New Orleans policyholders, a Louisiana judge has ruled that many New Orleans homeowners whose houses sustained water damage after Hurricane Katrina are not excluded from cover under their insurance policies.

US District Court Judge Stanwood Duval ruled that insurers’ definitions of the word “flood” were ambiguous and did not necessarily exclude man-made causes, such as levee failures.

Judge Duval drew a distinction between flooding that occurs naturally and the destructive force of the water that rushed into the city when the levees gave way.