Everything You Need to Know About Hurricane Damage Insurance Claims

Insurers could deny hurricane damage insurance claims because damage occurred due to flood waters instead of wind, for example, significantly reducing your payout. Many homeowners don’t know they lack flood damage until it’s too late.

Today, we’re explaining the best strategies, tips, and tactics you can use to make your hurricane damage insurance claim go smoothly.

Will Homeowners Insurance Cover Hurricane Damage?

A standard homeowners insurance policy covers hurricane damage. However, depending on your location and coverage options, your policy may not cover all hurricane damage.

Factors that determine whether or not your policy covers hurricane damage include:

• The type of damage
• How the damage was caused (say, by rising floodwaters or wind)
• The type of homeowners coverage you purchased (say, ordinary home insurance or a specific hurricane coverage addition)
• Where you live

Homeowners who live in hurricane-prone regions, for example, typically need to buy extra hurricane coverage. This coverage protects your home against heavy windstorms.

Homeowners in Florida, coastal Texas, and parts of the coastal southeastern United States, for example, typically need to purchase extra hurricane coverage. Without this coverage, your insurance may not cover hurricane damage, forcing you to pay for repairs out of pocket.

Additionally, the type of damage and how that damage occurred also affect whether or not hurricane damage is covered:

• Most home insurance policies cover wind damage but not flood damage.
• If hurricane-force winds knock a tree into your home, then insurance should cover the cost of repairing that damage.
• If a hurricane causes local flooding, however, then a standard homeowners insurance policy will not cover this damage. You must purchase extra flood damage coverage.

Because of these factors, your homeowners insurance may or may not cover hurricane damage.

If you have experienced hurricane damage and need help determining how insurance covers this damage, request a free initial policy review with a public insurance adjuster. Our public adjusters have firsthand experience managing hurricane damage insurance claims for policyholders across Texas, Florida, and the southeastern United States.

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What is Hurricane Insurance? What Type of Insurance Covers Hurricane Damage?

If you live in a hurricane-prone area, then you generally need to purchase two or more insurance policies to protect your home from hurricane damage.

Technically, there’s no such thing as a single “hurricane insurance” policy; instead, you need to buy a package of policies from one or more insurers, including windstorm insurance, flood insurance, or sewer backup insurance.

A standard insurance policy includes windstorm insurance but not flood insurance or sewer backup insurance.

Hurricane damage could be covered through the following policies:

• Homeowners, renters, or condo insurance (assuming these policies include endorsements for windstorm and sewer backup damage)
• Windstorm coverage
• NFIP flood insurance and excess flood insurance (for homes worth more than $250,000)

The United States government introduced the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through FEMA. This organization allows homeowners living in flood-prone, hurricane-prone areas to buy flood insurance for homes. Ordinary insurance companies won’t cover flood damage in these areas, but NFIP insurance will.

Sewer Backup Damage After a Hurricane

Some hurricane damage occurs due to sewer backups. Your homeowners insurance policy may or may not cover this damage:

• Your homeowners insurance covers sewer backup damage if the backup is caused by heavy rainfall and you purchased a sewer backup endorsement as an add-on to your home insurance policy
• Your homeowners insurance is not likely to cover sewer backup damage if the backup is caused by flooding and you do not have flood insurance

Check your policy to verify you have sewer backup coverage. Sewer backup can cause extensive damage to a property after a hurricane. Without adequate coverage, you could be required to pay these costs out of pocket.

Types of Damage Caused by a Hurricane

Hurricanes can cause extensive damage, ranging from wind damage to flood damage to sewer backup damage.

The most common types of hurricane damage include:

• Wind damage
• Heavy rainfall damage
• Storm surge damage
• Tornado damage
• Sewer backup damage
• Hurricane roof damage

In many cases, a hurricane causes different types of damage simultaneously. Windstorms could damage your roof while floodwaters flood the first level of your home, for example.

In this situation, insurance adjusters inspect and analyze to distinguish the different types of damage. Policies have different limits for different types of damage, which is why they need to distinguish the damage. Additionally, you may need to pay a deductible for each type of damage.

Yes, you may have to pay two different deductibles after a hurricane. You may need to pay a deductible for flood insurance, for example, and a separate deductible for windstorm insurance. And, if there’s too much damage caused by one peril, you could exceed your limits, causing you to pay the remaining damage out of pocket.

Special Windstorm Deductibles and Hurricane Damage

Some states have special deductibles for windstorm damage.

In these states, you have the option to purchase an endorsement for windstorm damage. Insurers, meanwhile, require you to pay a separate deductible for windstorm damage while dealing with different coverage limits and exclusions.

States with special deductibles for windstorms include: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Coverage limits and exclusions vary from state to state. However, having a windstorm deductible increases the chances of hurricane damage being covered.

You Can’t Buy Hurricane Insurance When a Storm is Days Away

Some homeowners in hurricane-prone areas think they’re clever when they wait to buy hurricane insurance until a hurricane is in the forecast.

Unfortunately for these homeowners, most insurance companies have a 15-day waiting period on things like windstorm insurance coverage. Because of that 15-day waiting period, you cannot buy “hurricane insurance” as a hurricane is bearing down on the coast. Once a tropical storm or a hurricane enters your area, coverage can’t be placed until the storm passes.

Similar rules exist for flood insurance. Typically, there’s a 30-day waiting period before coverage takes effect.
Additionally, most insurance companies temporarily stop selling all hurricane-related damage insurance before a hurricane watch. Laws and policies vary between insurance companies and states. Generally, however, you will not be able to purchase any hurricane-related insurance policies within 48 hours of the start of a hurricane watch. Even if you are able to purchase a policy, the policy may not be active until after the hurricane has passed.

Hurricane Insurance Claim Tips

Most homeowners have limited experience dealing with hurricane insurance claims. We’re here to help: here are some of our best tips – based on real hurricane claims – for receiving the payout you’re owed, speeding up insurance claims, and ensuring your claim goes smoothly.

1. Consider Buying Insurance Even in Low-Risk Zones: Approximately 25% of insurance claims paid out by FEMA each year are for homes in low-risk zones. Some homeowners avoid buying insurance for hurricane damage because they live in a low-risk zone. In reality, it may be in your best interest to buy hurricane insurance if you’re in any hurricane-prone region – regardless of the specific risk level.
2. Hold Hurricane Insurance Year-Round to Avoid Exclusions: Insurance companies stop selling flood insurance and windstorm insurance in the days before a hurricane watch begins. Additionally, flood insurance and windstorm insurance may take 15 to 30 days to be activated. Because of these restrictions, you cannot buy “hurricane insurance” in the days leading up to a disaster. Hold it year-round to make sure your property is protected.
3. Keep Track of Meal and Accommodation Expenses After a Hurricane: Home insurance covers more than just the cost of repairing your home to pre-loss condition. Home insurance also covers your living expenses – say, if your home is uninhabitable after a disaster. Keep track of additional living expenses such as lodging and meal expenses in the days and weeks following a hurricane if your home is unsafe or uninhabitable.
4. Prepare for a Higher Deductible with Hurricane Damage: An average home insurance policy has a deductible of around $500. Hurricane insurance, however, has a much higher deductible. In many cases, hurricane insurance deductibles are based on a percentage of the total claim. You may need to pay 2% to 5% of your coverage amount before receiving a hurricane insurance payout.
5. Consider Hiring a Public Adjuster for Hurricane Damage Insurance Claims: Most property owners have never heard of a public adjuster, and many who have are often asking if they should use a public insurance adjuster after hurricane damage. A public adjuster is an insurance industry professional on your side that specializes in property damage insurance claims. Public adjusters are dedicated to properly managing your insurance claim from beginning to end. A good public adjuster helps with every aspect of your claim, negotiating with the insurance industry on your behalf to simplify the claim process and obtain an honest, justified claim settlement. Hurricane insurance claims can be complicated. The more complicated a claim is, the greater the chances of delays, underpayments, and denials.

Public adjusters provide expert help with hurricane claims while ensuring you receive fair treatment and your damage is covered under the terms of your insurance policy. For many homeowners, it’s in their best interest to hire a public adjuster.

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How Commercial Hurricane Damage Insurance Claims Work

Each year, hurricane winds cause an estimated $9 billion in damage to commercial businesses, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Fortunately, most business owners carry some type of insurance to protect against hurricane damage. Some of the coverages that could apply to your hurricane damage insurance claim include:

• Commercial property insurance
• Business interruption coverage
• Building ordinance insurance
• Utility interruption insurance

Overall, commercial insurance claims work in a similar way to residential insurance claims: businesses notify their insurer of the loss and pay appropriate deductible. Then, the insurer covers losses up to the limits of the policy.

Like homeowners, businesses may hire public adjusters or attorneys to help manage a claim. A good public adjuster or attorney can overturn a denied claim, secure higher compensation, and push back against insurers who refuse to cover hurricane damage.

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Final Advice on Hurricane Insurance Claims

Countrywide, approximately 7 million homes are at risk for hurricane storm surge damage alone.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, American homeowners and business owners experience $54 billion in losses from hurricane winds and hurricane-related flooding each year.

Millions of additional homes can be damaged by flooding, wind damage, storm damage, and other hurricane-related events. Whether you’re on the coast or hundreds of miles inland, you may be at significant risk for hurricane damage.

Follow the guide above to ensure your home insurance covers hurricane damage. Or, if you’re struggling to get hurricane damage covered after a disaster, then consider hiring a public adjuster with ClaimsMate.

Hurricane insurance claims can be tricky. A public adjuster could be the difference between getting hurricane damage covered – or being forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in hurricane damage repairs out of pocket.

Contact ClaimsMate today to speak with a hurricane damage insurance claim specialist for a free, no-obligations consultation.

Stephanie Corona

Stephanie is a property insurance claim expert with over 20 years of experience working as an insurance adjuster, expert witness, appraiser and umpire. She is passionate about sharing her expertise, knowledge, tips and training to help both property owners and Public Adjusters in their pursuit of effectively managing claims and recovering the claim settlement they deserve after a loss.