Does my insurance cover hurricane damage?
Short answer. Check four places in your policy: whether windstorm is covered or excluded, what deductible applies to hurricanes or named storms, whether you carry separate flood insurance, and whether the roof is valued at replacement cost or actual cash value. Most inland Georgia homeowners policies include wind coverage, but flood is never part of a standard homeowners policy.
Step by step through your policy
- Declarations page: find the dwelling limit, each deductible, and whether any deductible says hurricane, named storm or windstorm. Convert percentages to dollars.
- Endorsements list: look for a windstorm or hail exclusion, a hurricane deductible endorsement, roof surfacing or payment schedule endorsements, and any water backup coverage.
- Deductible trigger wording: a hurricane or named storm deductible usually applies only when the National Hurricane Center names the storm or issues a watch or warning, and for a set period afterward. Read exactly how yours is triggered.
- Loss of use: check the limit for extra living expenses.
- Ordinance or law: check how much the policy pays for code upgrades during repairs.
- Flood: confirm whether you have a separate flood policy. If not, decide whether you need one; NFIP policies generally take 30 days to start.
Questions to ask your agent
- Which deductible would apply if a named storm's winds damaged my roof here?
- Is my roof covered at replacement cost?
- Do I have any windstorm exclusion?
- Is my dwelling limit enough to rebuild at today's costs?
Do it before the season
Insurers typically stop accepting new policies and coverage changes when a storm is approaching. Changes need to happen at renewal or well before a storm is in the forecast.
More: percentage deductibles, ACV vs RCV and code upgrade coverage.