Home damage is one of the most salient effects of a hurricane disaster. Often, home damage is one of the longest-lasting and most devastating effects, as well. Hurricanes are a dominating force of nature, bringing with them an almost supernatural intensity and destructive power. Over the last two hundred years, hurricanes have been responsible for more than 1.9 million human fatalities; they can easily destroy or interrupt civic infrastructure, including power grids, bridges, and homes. Home damage is one of the primary problems that the average citizen will have to deal with in the event of a hurricane disaster.
If you have suffered home damage from a hurricane disaster, there are some standard steps to take:
- Assess whether or not your home is unlivable. If it is, discover your living expenses and consult your policy to see what your insurance policy will cover.
- Take inventory of the home damage that has occurred: Try to document the extent of the damage before a claims adjuster arrives in order to speed up the process.
- File a claim with your home insurance agency. In the event of a hurricane disaster, it is likely that the agency has created a special procedure to make the claims process easier.
- Assist your claims adjuster(s). You should be patient: small losses can be settled relatively quickly, but larger claims may take longer. Retaining a public insurance adjuster may expedite this process.
- You should notify your creditors of any bills that you have lost in the home damage and if you will be unable to pay any outstanding bills because of the hurricane disaster.
You should keep in mind that many insurance policies that are sold in high-risk areas will have correspondingly high deductibles. Additionally, it is likely that your policy will include a hurricane-specific deductible, which is unrelated to other coverage and other deductibles in your policy. These other deductibles are often visibly undisclosed, so you should take special care when selecting an insurance policy. Such a deductible could be as much as 10% of the value of your home, which places a large part of the burden of rebuilding on you in the event of home damage.
A typical home insurance hurricane policy covers wind damage; resulting fire or vandalism; debris removal and repairs; and cash or replacement value of damaged property. Further, some policies may also offer additional living expenses if your home is rendered unlivable and you have to take up residence in a hotel; however, most policies do not offer this sort of coverage. It is a very good idea to discover the extent of your coverage before making a large outlay for such expenses. You should also discover the dollar amount that your policy will cover so that you are not left without a home in the event that you do not have enough money to complete repairs to your home damage.
