Natural Disasters Home Insurance: What You Need to Know
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It seems that every week there’s news of new devastating natural disasters in the United States. Wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes have destroyed countless homes and are getting worse as climate change increases. While you’ll hopefully never be affected by a natural disaster, it’s essential to understand how your home insurance would work in such a situation. Does home insurance cover natural disasters, and what should you do to prepare, just in case?
Most standard homeowners insurance policies cover many types of natural disasters, including tornadoes, lightning strikes, and damage caused by winter storms. Explosions, fire, smoke, vandalism, theft, and damage caused by the weight of snow, ice, or sleet are also frequently covered.
But standard insurance doesn’t cover every type of natural disaster. Damage from floods and earthquakes is usually excluded. Additionally, your insurance won’t cover damage that’s caused by a lack of maintenance, or from a sewer backup.
While standard insurance excludes these coverages, you can often buy optional coverage or a separate policy if you want protection from these types of natural disasters. For example, if you live in an area at risk of flooding, you may need to buy a separate flood insurance policy.
To protect yourself from natural disasters, make sure that you have the coverage that you need. Read your insurance policy thoroughly and purchase any additional insurance necessary to protect yourself from the types of natural disasters that occur in your area.
Look for any hazards on your property, like large trees that could fall on your home or vehicle during a hurricane. Address those hazards ahead of time to help protect your property.
You can also take steps to protect your home from natural disasters by investing in products, like fire- or hurricane-resistant roofing materials.
You can start exploring homeowners insurance policies today online. Get free homeowners insurance quotes to compare pricing and coverage options to ensure your home is protected.
Standard homeowners insurance policies often cover many natural disasters, but if you want coverage for floods or earthquakes, you’ll need to buy additional coverage.
Homeowners insurance usually won’t cover floods and earthquakes. Every policy varies, though, to be sure to read your policy and identify any excluded natural disasters.
Many insurance policies will include coverage for disasters like fires and hurricanes, and your standard deductible applies. Some policies may have a separate deductible for wind and hail damage.
If you filed a claim for damage caused by a natural disaster, your insurance premiums may increase. It’s also common for insurance companies to increase rates for all homeowners in areas that have sustained significant damage from natural disasters. Those rate increases are driven by the increased payouts the companies had to make, and they help the companies recoup the money they’ve spent.
Paige Cerulli Paige Cerulli is a freelance content writer and journalist who specializes in personal finance topics. She graduated from Westfield State University and brings more than a decade of professional writing experience to the ConsumerCoverage team. Paige’s work has appeared in outlets including USA Today, Business Insider, and more.
