Massive flooding. Widespread insect infestations. Devastating tornadoes.

 It’s a good thing those things don’t happen in New England.  

 Condominium trustees and homeowners who thought New England was immune to such  catastrophic events have received wake-up calls in recent years. New Hampshire  residents haven’t yet forgotten the floodwaters that rushed through their neighborhoods a few  years ago. Pest control companies have been battling armies of irritating  bedbugs. And just weeks ago, a band of tornadoes left large swaths of  Massachusetts’ communities in ruins.  

 Add to those woes the destructive ice storm of 2008, unrelenting snowfalls of  last winter and spiking oil prices of recent months, and association boards may  feel they’re rolling the dice when they sit down to develop an annual budget. How can a  community prepare for emergencies and the vagaries of nature?  

 The first step, of course, is to be sure that the property is properly insured. “You have to consider the worst that can happen … a fire, or a tornado, or those coastal tsunamis. You want to be sure you have  it right, to make sure you’re adequately insured,” says Chris Snow at Bernier & Snow Insurance Agency in Rochester, New Hampshire.