Hurricane Florence just started hitting the Carolinas coasts earlier today. As a category 2 now, instead of the expected category 4, seems like the damages it will leave won’t be as many as we thought. However, with winds reaching the 80mph, and all the total area this hurricane covers, the storm is still extremely dangerous. With this in mind, consulting if we have hurricane insurance with our policy carrier is really important.
When we live in an area that is prone to hurricanes and storms, double checking with our insurance company is of the utmost importance. As with any kind of insurance, coverage can vary depending on the company. Now that we have Florence hitting the Carolinas coasts, questions regarding hurricane insurance arise. We need to know if hurricane insurance is part of our homeowner’s policy, and if so, what does it cover and what it does not.
Hurricane Insurance is Part of Your Homeowner’s Policy
As we mentioned above, hurricane insurance coverage might be part of your policy. It depends on the carrier we have and the area we live in, though. However, most carriers include some kind of hurricane protection, such as damages that strong winds might cause.
It is important to mention, though, that there is no such a thing as a hurricane insurance policy per se. There is no standalone policy like it happens with car, home, health, or life insurance. We can purchase this protection as an add-on to our existing policy or purchase the protection with a separate carrier. Before doing so, we need to know exactly what this protection will cover.
What Does Hurricane Insurance Cover?
There are two different types of damages than can result during or after a hurricane. Extreme wind damage and flood damage. Most of the homeowner’s insurance policy will cover expenses that result from strong winds during a hurricane or storm.
In the case of hurricane coverage, most companies work with percentage deductibles. These deductibles are based on the home’s insurance value. Also, the average hurricane deductible goes between 1% and %5 of the expenses. This means that if our home insurance’s value is of $500,000, we will have to cover between $5,000 and $25,000 before the insurance kicks in.
What Does Hurricane Insurance Not Cover?
The case of flood damages is quite different than that of wind damages. Like we mentioned before, there aren’t standalone hurricane insurance policies that can keep our home completely protected. Since wind damage is covered on our homeowner’s policy, we must look for flood damages insurance separately.
Most of the times, our same carrier might offer this additional coverage. If that’s not the case, we can always look for other providers instead. Another option available is contacting the National Flood Insurance Program. Even though we cannot buy flood insurance directly from them, their help center can assist us with finding a partner agent to help us out.
Regardless of company or particular situation, double checking with our insurance company is really important. This way we can better prepare for whenever a hurricane hits our town.
