Wind, flooding etc etc… So… what if anything will typical homeowners insurance cover?
Wind damage is typically covered. So if the storm blows your roof off and the rain gets in the house and destroys everything then, generally, a homeowner’s insurance policy would cover that.
Flood damage is typically not covered. So if the nearby creek becomes a raging torrent that keeps rising and floods your house then a typical homeowner’s insurance policy will not cover that damage. A flood insurance policy would be needed for such damage to be covered.
Rule of thumb, rising water needs a flood policy. Damage from water falling from the sky is covered under a homeowner’s policy.
Other possible risks related to a hurricane that would be covered by homeowner’s insurance include damage from a tornado, a fire, or looters burglarizing your home.
But, in hurricane-prone areas you need special hurricane insurance. Wind and rain damage is explicitly EXcluded from ordinary homeowners’ policies in these places.
Here in Florida this is standard by law. We all have a HO policy that excludes hurricanes and a separate hurricane policy that covers them. And, if you’re smart, a separate flood policy as well.
Does a similar set of laws/rules apply to south Texas? I don’t know but I’d be surprised if it didn’t.
The punch line being that IF hurricane cover is required, and IF somebody didn’t buy it, then their homeowner’s policy will look at the wreckage and say “Too bad; so sad.” They might still cover looting and fire damage to what’s left.
Some news item mentioned that a lot of homeowners cannot get/afford flood insurance since it would be a separate insurance - and depending on where the house is situated, the risk would be far too high, so the policy would cost far too much. And if you’re far enough uphill to not worry about flood plains, why bother?
So if the water gets into your house from “overland flooding” - along the ground and into the house - then if no flood insurance, not covered. (Heard of a case a few years ago where a major city water main burst - so houses that flooded due to water coming in the basement window, not covered by insurance; houses where it came through the floor drain and weeping tile system - covered. (Although nowadays insurance requires backup valves so sewer systems don’t run backwards into the house.)
Then… is the insurance up to date? Construction costs may be higher now than when someone first got insurance, and the maximum may not completely cover repairs. Especially, I assume when there’s a whole city in need of repair, construction costs will go up due to demand.
That wouldn’t happen here as the Water Company would be liable. Some friends of ours were flooded when an 18" main burst about half a mile away up a hill. It was a real PITA for them at the time (we had some of their stuff in our garage for months) but they did quite well out of it in the end.
I am really curious about flood insurance around the country.
I live in S. Louisiana and everything around here is covered by FEMA flood insurance. Of course lots of people choose not to buy it and pay the price when it rains, but it is available for everyone. And at reasonable rates for most.
I had stated earlier that everyone in the country needed to buy FEMA flood insurance since sooner or later it rains everywhere and was informed by other posters that it wasn’t available throughout the country and some private insurance covered floods.
A little Googling showed that these are true. Not all local Governments go through the trouble of qualifying for FEMA flood insurance and there are parts of the country where private flood insurance is available. However I wasn’t able to find anywhere where the private insurance was available at reasonable cost. 3 times the equivalent FEMA insurance (though as noted it isn’t available everywhere so that can be academic) seemed the minimum cost.
Does anyone else have local knowledge of either point? Counties or cities that haven’t bothered to qualify for flood insurance? Private insurance that covers floods?
Just curious. Not having flood insurance available to me is like not having running water available. It would cause me to move out until the problem is fixed.