Hurricane Season is Here
Tomorrow, June 1st, 2024, marks the official start to the 2024 Hurricane season, which runs from June through November 30th. Although we normally think of Hurricanes being a late summer to early fall occurence, it is important to start preparing now, so that if a serious storm does approach, you already have a plan.
The first, and most important thing you can prepare for is the safety of you and your family. Click here for a link to our storm preparedness guide and a printer friendly checklist you can use to make sure you have everything on hand.
Knowing what preparations to make, what supplies to have, and how to minimize your risk during a storm are very important, as is knowing when to evacuate instead of riding it out. Pay close attention to the warnings posted by local authorities as well as the National Hurricane Center. You probably won’t evacuate for every tropical storm that comes our way, but if a serious Hurricane with high winds is forecast to hit where you live, it is wise to plan to remove yourself and your family from harms way, and go somewhere inland. Your home and property can be replaced, but lives cannot.
Which brings us to the other important topic, your insurance. If you own any property, including a home, business, or even just a car, It is very important to know what is covered, what isn’t, and what your deductibles are.
Let’s start off with coverage.
On a standard homeowner’s policy, one of the major risks of a hurricane, flooding is not covered. Homeowners policies exclude coverage for flooding. You might be thinking “I had a flood when my dishwasher broke and spilled water all over my floors, and insurance paid. This is true, water damage like that is often covered by homeowners insurance, but that is not a flood. A flood, according to the National Flood Insurance Program, the federally backed insurer that issues flood insurance, is: “A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from any of the following:
Overflow of inland or tidal waters
Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source
Mudflow
or Collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in a flood as defined above.
That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? Another way to describe a flood is that it is damage caused by naturally rising waters, not a mechanical failure.
So if your homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding, then what does? Easy, flood insurance! Flood insurance is available from both private insurers and the National Flood Insurance Program, and provides standalone coverage for your home and personal property for damages caused by flooding. It is a separate policy, with separate deductibles, and only covers flooding. If you don’t have flood insurance, do not wait until a storm is on its way to get it. Flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program comes with a 30-day waiting period for coverage to be effective, so if a hurricane is already coming, any flood policy you buy will not take effect in time to cover you.
If you have a flood insurance policy, you should check it to see how much coverage you have for both your home as well as your personal property, and what your deductibles are. If you don’t have a flood insurance policy, you should consider getting a quote for one. Even if you don’t live in an area where it is required, that doesn’t mean it can’t flood there. Anywhere it can rain, it can flood.
With flooding out of the way, there is another risk that people normally think of when they think of a hurricane, and that is wind. Wind speeds are how we categorize hurricane strength, and the images of trees blown over and roofs bloown off of houses are what usually come to mind when we think of a hurricane. Most homeowners policies do cover damage from winds. If the wind blows the roof off your house, or blows a tree over onto your house, this is damage from wind, and would be covered by a homeowners policy that does not specifically exclude wind coverage.
Check your homeowners policy or ask your agent to see whether or not it is exlcuded. If it is covered, you may see a separate deductible for wind damage. This is usually referred to as a “wind and hail deductible”, which means exactly what it sounds like. It is a seprate deductible for damages caused by the effects of wind or hail. Sometimes, you’ll see it referred to as a “named storm deductible” or even a “hurricane deductible”. This just means that those deductibles only apply if the storm is named by the National Weather Service, or reaches at least a Categroy 1 Huricane, respectively.
If you have a separate wind and hail deductible, it will often be higher than your all other perils deductible, and may be a percentage instead of a flat dollar amount. This is not a percentage of the damage. This is a percentage of the insured value of your home. If your home is insured for $300,000, and you have a 2% wind and hail deductible, your out of pocket expenses for damge from wind and hail would be $6,000.
Not sure where to find your deductible on your policy, or if you have a separate wind and hail deductible? This is a great question for your agent, and one of many reasons we don’t recommend people try to DIY their home insurance. If your agent can’t easily tell you your deductible, it might be a sign to shop for a new one.
Earlier, we also mentioned policies that exclude wind. Some policies, typically in coastal areas of elevated risk, will exclude any wind coverage at all. This means your homeowners policy will not cover any damage resulting from wind or hail. In South Carolina, we have the South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association, which is a state-backed insurance program that provides wind and hail coverage to properties in zones that other carriers will not. If your homeowners policy excludes wind and hail coverage, you absolutely need a policy from the SCWHUA to fill this major gap in coverage.
This means that someone in a coastal area, such as a beach community or even on the mainland near the coast might have three separate policies for their home. A Homeowners policy, a Wind and Hail policy, and a Flood policy, all with their own separate coverage amounts, deductibles, and premiums. We recommend you take the opportunity to check whichever policies you have at the beginning of the season to ensure you know your deductibles and of course to check that they have not expired.
What about your cars?
With automobiles, the coverage situation is much more straightforward. Vehciles are not covered by your homeowners policy, but by an auto policy. If you have Comprehensive coverage, also known as “other-than-collision” coverage, then that covers the vehicle for losses from flooding, wind, and a wide variety of other losses, like theft, fire, vandalism, animal strikes, and hail. If oyu have comprehensive coverage, check your deductible to see how much you’ll be out of pocket if you have a loss. If you don’t have comprehensive coverage, then your vehicle has no protection in the event of damage by a storm. Also remember that most policies don’t provide coverage for the property in your car, so it’s best to get any valuables out of the car before the storm comes.
What Should I Do?
With Hurricane Season 2024 upon us, we reccomend you take the opportunity to look over all of your policies and be sure you understand them and that they are up to date. Not sure where to begin? Your agent is your resource and guide through this, and a good agent will gladly go over these coverages with you and answer your questions. If you don’t have an agent, you should! Our agency has over forty years of experience serving South Carolina residents and helping them with their coverage and their claims from hurricanes. Our experienced team is ready to help you with your coverage and questions today.
Call us at (843) 797-7285 or click here to email us.