Hurricanes and storms can cause devastating damage to Florida residents and their properties. Florida homeowners know that one hurricane or severe storm can potentially destroy their homes and possessions due to the state’s coastal location and near-sea-level terrain. The right insurance coverage can provide Floridians with the financial protection they need to rebuild after a tropical storm.
What Is Hurricane Insurance?
No single insurance policy is known as “hurricane insurance.” Instead, you can insure your home against the two primary sources of most hurricane damage: flooding and windstorm. Separate policies can be purchased to ensure you have adequate hurricane coverage against these two leading causes of damage.
Many homeowners combine home insurance, flood insurance and other endorsements, such as sewer backup and windstorm coverage. Whatever coverage you choose, you want to be sure you have adequate insurance to cover the cost of rebuilding your home and replacing your possessions.
These are some common types of insurance that can help you recover from a damaging storm or hurricane:
· Flood insurance—This insurance can cover costs related to flooding, storm surge and wind-driven water, which your standard home insurance won’t cover. If you rent your home, you can also buy this coverage.
· Homeowners insurance—This coverage can help protect your home’s structure from damage from a hurricane, wind or lightning. There are exclusions with this type of insurance, and our team at C.J. Noel Insurance can discuss these with you in more detail.
o Additional living expense (ALE) coverage—Homeowners, renters or condo insurance policies usually include coverage for other living expenses. This is essential if a covered risk destroys your home, and you need to live somewhere temporarily. You may need more than standard ALE coverage to recover from a significant hurricane loss.
· Sewer backup—Hurricanes can cause sewer backups. Many home insurance policies exclude this protection. We can add this as an endorsement to your homeowners policy if you don’t already have it.
What Does Hurricane Insurance Cost?
The cost of your insurance depends on many factors, including what coverage you choose, whether you live in a high-risk flood area and the value of your home and assets. Your homeowners policy cost may be affected since you can select additional endorsements for added protection.
Get Covered Today
Once a hurricane or storm warning is in effect, it’s usually too late to purchase last-minute insurance since almost all storm policies have waiting periods. Don’t put off getting coverage, or you could suffer the financially devastating consequences.
Hurricanes can be very damaging. It’s essential to be prepared with the right coverage that gives you a financial safety net to recover from a catastrophic event such as a hurricane.