Hurricanes are one of nature’s most dangerous natural forces. Hurricanes combine two of the most damaging things: water, and wind. When these combine, they can destroy a home or leave it with immense damage. What can you do after your home has sustained hurricane damage? Make sure that you know your hurricane insurance, and hurricane coverage, having this information means you can support your hurricane damage claim.
What to do After the Hurricane Damage
After ensuring that it is safe to go outdoors, document all damages to your home. Take detailed photographs and contact your insurance company. This is also when you should contact a public adjuster if you’re unsure how to file an insurance claim or need assistance with it.
If you live in an evacuation zone, you might not have immediate access to your home. If you can’t immediately enter your home, make sure that you call a professional to inspect the damages before you attempt to make any repairs. Trying to make repairs without licensing and before a proper inspection can cause issues to arise with your insurance company. While you should try to prevent further damages, do not attempt to make repairs. Only make emergency repairs to your home, such as setting up tarps to mitigate additional damages.
Mitigating Further Hurricane Damage to your Home
Mitigating further damages to your home is one way to help ensure that your homeowner’s insurance company won’t deny your claim. If your home has broken windows, it’s best to clean up what is a hazard to your family and to seal the window with plastic. Do not make any permanent changes or repairs to your home; it can cause your homeowner’s insurance company to deny your claim. A denied claim means you’ll have to pay out of pocket for any repairs necessary while fighting with your insurance company. Don’t get left uncovered. Sentry Public Adjusting can help you. Make sure you know your local laws and stay tuned to emergency channels during and after the hurricane.
After contacting a public adjuster about your hurricane damages and your insurance company, schedule an inspection of the damages. Sentry Public Adjusting offers a FREE inspection of your home’s hurricane damages. Thorough and proper documentation of the hurricane damages can result in you getting the most compensation to repair your home with Sentry Public Adjusting on your side.
Your Hurricane Insurance Policy
Knowing if you have hurricane insurance is vital before hurricane season hits. Some homeowner’s insurance policies require you to have separate insurance policies for flood insurance. Make sure you know what coverages you’re offered no matter what policy you must go through. Some hurricane insurance will have a hurricane deduction policy which is based on the value of your home. Meaning if your home is valued at $300,000 and your policy has a 5% deductible you must pay out $15,000 towards repairs before the policy begins paying for repairs to your home. During a time when your home has been destroyed, having to come up with $15,000 isn’t an easy feat.
Flooding is another major problem when it comes to hurricane damages, almost all homeowner’s insurance policies do not include flood insurance. If your home gets flooded, it can leave you with a destroyed house and no coverage to get it repaired. Depending on your coverage if your home sustains flood damage but it was caused by wind damage allowing water to get into your home, it may fall under an anti-concurrent causation clause. These anti-concurrent causation clauses in homeowner’s insurance are very common.
If you have 2 damages occur like the above example, your homeowner’s insurance company may deny the claim for either of the damages to your home. This can leave you with a destroyed house and no coverage for your hurricane damages. Having Sentry Public Adjusting on your side can be the difference between having your damages covered and no coverage. Sentry will thoroughly read through all your insurance policies to ensure that we know your policies inside and out. We want to ensure that your home will be repaired after a hurricane has hit.