When a hurricane hits, you may face the daunting task of assessing and repairing property damage to your home and belongings. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to take if a hurricane damages your home, from documenting the destruction to working with insurance companies and making necessary repairs. We’ll also give you some steps you can take before a hurricane strikes to ease your path if the worst happens.
What Can I Do To Prepare Before the Storm?
Defensive measures before a storm can help you recover. Here’s what to do:
Create a Detailed Home Inventory
A home inventory is invaluable when filing insurance claims after a hurricane. Start by walking through each room and noting every item, its condition, and any distinctive features. Along with descriptions, record serial numbers, purchase dates, and original costs. Visual evidence, such as photographs or videos, further strengthens claims. Be sure to back up your inventory data, preferably in cloud storage, to safeguard it from storm damage.
Updating your inventory annually is a smart way to make sure it reflects any major purchases or home improvements and keeps it current for any future claims.
Get Insurance Coverage
Standard homeowners insurance often doesn’t cover flood damage—a primary hurricane consequence. Review your existing policies to see where you may have coverage gaps. Discuss potential coverage additions with your insurance agent. Separate flood insurance policies are especially important in flood-prone and high-risk areas. Understand hurricane deductibles, which frequently use a percentage-based system, to help you plan for out-of-pocket costs.
Make sure you have the right insurance well before hurricane season since many policies have waiting periods before going into effect.
Prepare an Emergency Kit
If you’ve lost power and access to a clean water supply after a hurricane, you’ll rely on a well-thought-out emergency supply kit to ride out a storm and its aftermath. Customize the kit to your specific household members, including pets. Provide enough non-perishable food and clean water to last at least several days, along with any medications family members need and first-aid supplies.
Other supplies, such as flashlights, extra batteries, and a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, will keep you out of the dark and connected with the outside world. You’ll also need tools close to hand for basic emergency repairs. Durable, waterproof containers can hold essentials like cash and critical documents such as identification, insurance paperwork, and medical records.
What Immediate Actions Should You Take After a Hurricane?
Once the storm has passed, follow these steps to handle the aftermath effectively:
Assess and Document Damage
To make insurance claims and apply for disaster assistance, you’ll need to document the damage. Take photos and videos to capture every bit of damage to your home, from the roof to the foundation, including the interiors. Capture wide shots for context and close-ups for details.
Write detailed notes to accompany your visual proof, describing the damage’s scope, potential safety hazards, and how the integrity of the structure might be compromised. Don’t throw out any damaged items before an insurance adjuster can assess them so you don’t jeopardize claims.
Make Emergency Repairs
Implement some immediate fixes to mitigate damage. Cover broken windows and damaged roofs with tarps or plywood to prevent rain from getting in, and, if possible, remove standing water to lessen mold and mildew. Turn off electrical circuits in damaged areas to minimize fire risks and clear debris from gutters and downspouts to prevent water backing up.
Recording every repair task, accompanied by receipts for materials, helps you get fair insurance reimbursements or disaster aid.
File an Insurance Claim ASAP
Begin the insurance claims process soon after assessing your damage for a quicker response from your provider. Providing essential information, such as damage description, helps determine your eligibility for temporary relocation funding. Keep consistent communication with the insurer to facilitate a smooth process.
Working With Insurance Adjusters
Insurance adjusters play a critical role in assessing damage and determining claim payouts. To maximize your benefits, approach the claims process strategically.
Prepare for the Adjuster’s Visit
Make sure all damage-related documentation is organized and accessible. Gather all records of emergency repairs, create a detailed list of damaged and destroyed items, and make sure every affected area is available for a walk-through to help the adjuster do an accurate assessment.
Understand the Adjuster’s Role
Insurance adjusters do a meticulous evaluation of perceived and documented damage. They go over visible destruction, assess documentation homeowners provide, and estimate repair and replacement costs.
Feel free to ask questions and seek clarification concerning the assessor’s review. A proactive approach can help expedite your settlement by ensuring all sides share the same view of the damage.
Get a Second Opinion
If you disagree with the settlement offered, you can always get a second evaluation. Bringing in contractors for detailed and itemized repair estimates can help bridge gaps between what is really needed for repairs and what adjusters conclude is due.
Making Repairs and Rebuilding
Once the insurance claim is settled, you can move on to restoring and even improving your property.
Hiring Reputable Contractors
Choosing the right pros for home repairs will go a long way toward ensuring high-quality repair work. Get multiple bids from contractors who are licensed and insured, have strong references, and a portfolio of previous work.
Be wary of unsolicited repair offers or ones that demand immediate decision-making. Make sure you get written agreements detailing the scope, timeline, budget, and materials involved to prevent misunderstandings during the project.
Prioritizing Repairs
For every repair decision after hurricane damage, you’ll need to balance necessity and available resources. Start with structural integrity issues such as foundation cracks or damaged roofs to prevent water damage and other long-term problems. If you have the chance, consider energy-efficient upgrades for home components such as insulation, windows, or roofing.
How To Prepare for the Next Hurricane
While recovering from hurricane damage, take steps to better prepare for the next one:
Home Improvements
Installing impact-resistant windows and reinforced doors improves safety and can net you insurance discounts. Roof reinforcements like hurricane straps boost resistance to damage. Trim trees and remove debris to minimize projectile risks during severe weather.
You can also install a backup generator for a reliable power source during extended outages, keeping essential functions running and your living space comfortable.
Review and Update Insurance Coverage
Hurricane damage often prompts homeowners to reevaluate their coverage. Increasing your coverage to reflect actual risk levels and your property value will ensure your home is adequately protected going forward.
As climate change potentially increases the frequency and intensity of hurricanes, preparedness takes on new importance. By combining comprehensive insurance coverage with structural improvements and emergency planning, you can better protect your property and family from the devastating impacts of powerful storms.
FAQs About Preparing for Hurricanes
Update your home inventory annually to document new purchases, reflect changing home values, add serial numbers, and make other needed changes. Also, update your inventory after major remodeling or renovation projects.
Don’t climb onto a storm-damaged roof—it’s extremely dangerous. Rope off areas underneath compromised roofs to avoid injury from falling debris. You can use tarps secured with boards or ropes to create temporary waterproof barriers if roof damage is allowing water intrusion, but only if it doesn’t require you to climb on the roof. Take photos of visible roof damage from the ground to share with your insurance adjuster.
It depends. You can purchase endorsements to add coverage for food spoilage due to power outages from storms or utilities failing—but policies often have exclusions, so read yours closely and be aware of exactly what your policy will cover.
Contact your insurance company right away, as you may have coverage for professional mold remediation. Contain, document, and monitor areas of mold growth and communicate with your insurance company.
If a water leak is causing mold growth, take steps to shut off the water immediately to contain further growth. Don’t try to tackle major mold problems yourself using harsh chemicals. Have an industrial hygienist test the air inside your home to assess whether toxic black mold is making your home unsafe to live in.
Standard homeowners policies provide limited coverage for secondary structures and property improvements such as sheds, fences, pools, and docks. You must usually purchase separate endorsements to get more robust coverage options for high-risk assets like docks exposed to storm surges. Speak to your agent about potential gaps in your current insurance policy so you can purchase additional needed endorsements.
