Hurricane Preparedness and Recovery for Homeowners and Insurers

As hurricanes become more frequent and devastating, homeowners and insurers must prepare for the potential impact of these powerful storms. This guide outlines what homeowners can do before hurricane season, when a hurricane is forecast for their area, and after the storm has affected their home. It also discusses the steps insurers can take to increase their responsiveness and resilience before and after hurricanes.

Homeowners: How to prepare for hurricane season

Completing these steps in early summer will reduce your to-do list and stress when a storm is headed your way.

1. Review and update insurance coverage: Conduct an insurance "checkup" to ensure your policy adequately covers potential hurricane damage. Remember that flood insurance is typically separate from standard homeowners insurance.
2. Understand your policy: Familiarize yourself with coverage limits, deductibles, and exclusions. Be aware that changes in coverage usually require 30 days to take effect, especially for flood insurance.
3. Secure important documents: Store insurance policy information and other crucial papers in a watertight container or safe deposit box. Take photos of policy numbers and contact information for easy access and make sure everything is backed up to the cloud.
4. Take a home inventory: Photograph and list all your belongings, including brand name, age, purchase price, and condition.
5. Develop an emergency plan: Create a comprehensive plan including family communication, evacuation procedures, and temporary housing arrangements for family members, including pets.
6. Assemble an emergency kit: Prepare a "go kit" with essentials like non-perishable food, water, first aid supplies, medications, cash, and a flashlight.
7. Protect your property: Take steps to safeguard your home, such as installing storm shutters, reinforcing doors, regularly trimming trees and plants, and sealing cracks and gaps around windows and doors. Consider installing a sump pump with a backup battery if your home has a basement to protect your foundation. Additionally, use surge protectors to safeguard your home's electrical system from surges caused by lightning or power outages.
8. Strengthen your roof: Inspect and reinforce your roof to ensure it can withstand strong winds. Check for loose shingles and nails and consider installing hurricane straps or clips to secure the roof to the walls.

Homeowners: What to do when a hurricane is forecast

Once you know a storm is on the way, damage mitigation becomes the priority (after your and your family's safety).

1. Inspect trees and shrubs: Remove any weak branches that could break off during the storm.
2. Secure outdoor items: Bring in or securely anchor outdoor furniture, decorations, and equipment to prevent them from becoming projectiles in high winds. This applies to even harmless-seeming items, such as pool floaties, netting over plants, and your welcome mat.
3. Clear gutters and downspouts: Cleaning out these conduits can support drainage and prevent water damage by ensuring water flows away from your home's foundation.
4. Update your inventory: If you've made any significant purchases since completing your original home inventory, take photos of them and note their details.
5. Check your emergency kit: Make sure it's complete and no items have expired. Add at least one change of clothes for each family member.
6. Get items off the ground: To the extent possible, raise electrical appliances from the ground to protect them from flooding. If your home has more than one floor, move as many electrical items and valuables as possible to higher floors.

Homeowners: What to do immediately after a hurricane

If your home has been through a hurricane, it's probably been affected by wind, rain, or both. Taking the right steps after the storm can help you and your home recover more quickly.

1. Safety first: Check for injuries, administer first aid, and seek medical care as needed. If you had to evacuate your home, don't return until local authorities say it's safe. Make sure your property is safe to enter before assessing damage and avoid hazards like flooded areas, downed power lines, and major structural damage.
2. Assess and document damage: Examine structural damage, from a safe vantage point if necessary. Take detailed photos, videos, and notes of all property damage; this visual and written evidence will be crucial for your insurance claim.
3. Contact your insurance company: Notify your insurer promptly about the damage and provide detailed information on damaged or lost items (their approximate value and age, with purchase receipts if possible).
4. Make temporary repairs: If it's safe, make temporary repairs to prevent further damage, such as covering broken windows or holes in the roof with tarps. Keep all receipts for materials and labor; these costs can be reimbursed.
5. Understand the claims process: Schedule a meeting with an insurance adjuster to inspect the damage in your presence. Maintain detailed records of all communications with your insurance company, including dates, times, and names, and keep copies of all written and digital correspondence.
6. Avoid contractor scams: Bad actors frequently target people whose homes have been affected by natural disasters. Get written estimates with clear contact information, get more than one bid, check references, beware of contractors soliciting door-to-door, don't pay in full upfront or make a final payment before the job is complete, and never sign a contract with blanks. Your insurance company will provide a list of vetted and approved contractors; they're your best bet.

Insurers: How to prepare for hurricane season

These proactive measures can help insurance companies get and stay ready for hurricane season.

• Invest in technology: Harness advanced analytics and AI to predict and prepare for disasters, monitor weather risks, and support automation.
• Automate what you can: Given the inevitable rush of claims following a hurricane, prepare by automating as many of your processes as possible so your claims team can focus on providing excellent service to clients.
• Educate clients: As hurricane season approaches, reach out to your clients and let them know about the importance of reviewing their coverage and planning ahead.
• Stay on top of regulatory updates: New laws, such as Florida's Insurer Accountability Act, are being implemented to ensure more transparent, efficient claims-handling practices. Make sure your company's processes and procedures comply with all relevant regulations.
• Support disaster preparedness efforts: Initiatives like the Strengthen Alabama Homes program don't just help homeowners; they help insurers by reducing the likelihood and/or extent of damage to homes.
• Strengthen liquidity: Some state-chartered insurance associations are securing loans to cover potential claim demands.

Insurers: How to help most effectively after a storm

Hurricanes are hard on homeowners and insurers alike: homeowners are going through the aftermath of a catastrophic event, while insurers are suddenly overwhelmed with claims. This can be insurers' time to shine, providing relief to their clients during a crisis and cementing long-term (or even lifetime) client relationships.

1. Let AI do the heavy lifting: AI can handle the data-based aspects of hurricane response, improving accuracy and potentially speeding up claims processing.
2. Direct clients to low- or no-touch processes: Encourage the use of virtual inspections, photo/document uploads, and other automated or digital tools to save time for your clients and your team.
3. Communicate as much as possible: Uncertainty about a claim can be a significant source of stress for clients. To the greatest extent possible, update your clients at least once a day on their claim status. You can also provide access to a policyholder portal, such as ClaimXperience^®, where clients can keep close tabs on their claim.

Hurricane seasons are becoming increasingly busy and dangerous. Fortunately, homeowners and insurers can do much to mitigate the damage even before a storm is forecasted. And knowing what to do immediately after a storm can help reduce the stress, time, and financial cost of recovery.

Verisk's Natural Hazards and Response solutions can help insurers prepare for hurricanes by mitigating extreme weather risk. Our Weather Response and Analytics solutions can help insurers serve clients after a hurricane by accelerating claims processes.

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