Is Hurricane Damage Covered by Home or Flood Insurance?
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No specific insurance policy provides “hurricane coverage,” and depending on where you live, you may need to supplement your homeowners or renters insurance policy to protect yourself from the two most common damages from hurricanes: flooding and wind damage.
In fact, flooding due to hurricanes is consistently excluded from standard homeowners and renters insurance — for that, you should consider a flood insurance policy.
Homeowners in hurricane-prone regions, such as parts of Florida, Louisiana and Texas, may also have to supplement their coverage with windstorm insurance. In case of hurricane damage, you may need to file a claim under one or more of these policies to receive proper compensation.
When does homeowners insurance cover hurricanes?
With a standard homeowners insurance policy, the dwelling and personal property coverage is restricted according to the cause of the damage. Perils are either listed as covered or specifically excluded from coverage, depending on the type of policy you have. Hurricanes themselves aren't named as either a covered or excluded peril, but their effects, such as wind and flooding, are.
- Wind: Wind damage, such as shingles blowing off a roof or a tree being ripped up, is covered by most homeowners insurance policies. But in certain regions that are prone to hurricanes, wind may be an excluded peril in your policy. To confirm whether you need separate coverage for wind, refer to your homeowners insurance declarations page.
- Flooding and water damage: Homeowners insurance covers some forms of water damage, such as a burst pipe, but almost certainly excludes flooding or storm surges from a hurricane. There are questionable scenarios, such as if hurricane winds blow debris through your window and rain damages your carpet. In these cases, your homeowners insurance might step in to cover the carpet damage, but you'll want to have coverage in place for wind and flooding, just in case.
- Sewer backup: Sewer backup isn't consistently covered by homeowners insurance, but you can generally add a sewer backup endorsement to your policy. If heavy rainfall from a hurricane causes a sewer backup, you'd want to have both sewer backup and flood coverage in place to ensure you're covered, no matter what insurance adjusters determine to be the root cause.
- Evacuation and temporary relocation: Generally, if you evacuate your home to avoid a pending hurricane, homeowners insurance won't cover your expenses. But, when you return, if the house isn't in livable condition, the additional living expenses portion of your policy will pay for a hotel and certain incremental costs you incur while staying elsewhere.
Since hurricanes can cause multiple forms of damage at the same time, they're particularly risky for homeowners who are covered for some events but not others.
For example, if your homeowners insurance covers damage from the hurricane's winds, but you don't have flood insurance, a portion — or the entirety — of your claim could be denied if your house sustains water damage. Homeowners insurance also typically won't cover hurricane damage to your car, RV or boat. Damage to these vehicles would be covered under the comprehensive portion of a full coverage car, RV or boat insurance policy.
Even if your claim is covered, hurricanes pose an additional issue, in that they can cause damage to a large number of properties at once. This leads to spikes in the cost of labor and construction materials just when you need them the most.
When you're looking for a homeowners insurance policy, you may be able to choose between actual cash value, replacement value and guaranteed replacement cost coverage. These options refer to the amount you would receive if your house, or part of it, was destroyed by a hurricane.
Replacement cost coverage is more expensive than actual cash value, because your policy will pay to restore your property to new if it is damaged, while actual cash value accounts for depreciation. Guaranteed replacement cost coverage is the most expensive, as it also will pay to cover increased construction and materials costs, which you might face after an event like a hurricane.
Hurricane and named-storm homeowners insurance deductibles
If your homeowners insurance policy covers wind damage or other damage from hurricanes, claims may be subject to a separate deductible, often called a hurricane deductible or named-storm deductible. This deductible is higher than a standard homeowners insurance deductible and is often set as a percentage of your dwelling coverage. The amount varies, according to your state's laws and the insurer you choose, but can range from 1% to 10% of your home's value.
Currently, these 19 states plus Washington, D.C., have hurricane deductibles. If you live in one of them, check your homeowners insurance policy to determine what you might have to pay in the event of a hurricane:
- Alabama
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Texas
- Virginia
For a hurricane or named-storm deductible to apply, a certain trigger needs to have been pulled, such as the National Weather Service issuing a hurricane warning in the state. Triggers can be set by either the state or the insurer, so you should refer to your homeowners insurance policy to understand what the trigger is. They may also apply to other natural disasters, such as tropical cyclones.
You should similarly understand whether the deductible is applied on a per-event or annual basis. Florida, for example, restricts the use of a hurricane deductible to an annual basis. This means that, once you've met the deductible, any damage from further hurricanes covered by the insurer in that year would not require you to pay a separate deductible.
Windstorm insurance coverage for hurricanes
If you live in a hurricane-prone region, your homeowners insurance policy may specifically exclude wind damage, particularly if it's linked to a hurricane. In this case, you'll need to purchase a separate windstorm or wind and hail insurance policy to supplement your coverage. Wind insurance can either be purchased as an endorsement to your homeowners insurance policy, as a separate policy from a private insurer or through a government program. Generally, you'll need to have been rejected by at least one private insurer before the government-run insurers, such as Texas's Windstorm Insurance Association, will accept you.
Similar to homeowners insurance, windstorm insurance or a wind endorsement will typically cover not just your home, but also other structures on your property, such as a toolshed or fence.
How does flood insurance cover hurricanes?
Flood damage caused by a hurricane will not be covered by your homeowners insurance policy. Instead, you'll need a separate flood insurance policy to cover water and storm surges from natural disasters. If you live in a region that is at high risk of flooding and hurricanes, you may already be required to maintain flood insurance as a term of your mortgage. However, it's still a good idea to consider coverage if you live in a floodplain, even if it hasn't been zoned as high risk.
Flood insurance policies from FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) provide coverage for your dwelling and its contents, but if you want over $250,000 of building coverage (which could mean coverage for landscaping or decks damaged in a hurricane) or any other additional living expenses coverage, you'll need a policy from a private flood insurance company.
Private flood insurance can be purchased as excess flood insurance coverage, added to your NFIP policy or bought as a stand-alone policy.
The cost of flood insurance varies based on where your house is located, as well as whether it's your primary residence — vacation rental homes and secondary houses may cost more to insure. Note that flood insurance, similar to windstorm insurance, should be purchased well in advance of any anticipated storms, as it may not take effect for a month. If you live in an area that may face hurricanes, you likely won't be covered if you wait until an immediate warning is issued to purchase coverage.
When does renters insurance cover hurricane damage?
Similar to homeowners insurance, renters insurance policies will cover certain damages associated with hurricanes, so long as the event is either named or not excluded from your policy. Renters insurance policies also typically don't cover flooding, so renters will likely need to purchase a separate policy to cover flood damage.
Renters insurance doesn't cover hurricane damage to the outside of the building your condo or apartment is located in, but your landlord's insurance should. In addition, if your apartment has covered damage from a hurricane, you would only have to pay your standard deductible. There's no hurricane deductible for renters insurance policies.
What about my car?
One item that's almost never covered by homeowners or renters insurance is your car, whether the damage is from a hurricane, storm, or almost any other cause of damage. Fortunately, damage to your car from a hurricane will be covered by auto insurance — as long as you have comprehensive coverage, which pays for any damage to your car that's not caused by a collision, including severe weather, vandalism, and theft.
Comprehensive coverage is not legally required, so if you only have liability coverage, you'll have to pay for any damage to your vehicle yourself.
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