Home Insurance And Natural Disasters

Insurance Blog

Home insurance is there to protect against small annoyances and also those big natural disasters that could significantly affect your home. To make sure that you're getting adequate coverage for those bigger issues, here is a guide to help you evaluate your home insurance coverage.

Structural Damage Is Probably Included

The meat and bones of any home insurance policy is coverage for the structure of your home, should it be damaged by a natural disaster or even if there's a problem that you could have prevented. It is important to have structural damage coverage because if your home's structure is altered or even destroyed by a natural disaster, you shouldn't have to pay the bill. The compensation is based on how you appraised your home's value when setting up the insurance plan.

Incidental Damage May Not Be Covered

The property that is not part of your home's structure may not have the same fate. For example, if your garden or fence is damaged by natural disaster, those items probably aren't going to be replaced.

Certain Types of Disasters Have their Own Stipulations

The insurance company may treat different types of natural disasters differently. Read which ones are naturally covered in your policy. Things like fires, earthquakes, and storms are standard. Strangely enough, many plans also cover volcano damage.

Where you might run into issues is with flood damage. Flood damage is often covered in a separate insurance policy, and the cost depends on your home's elevation and proximity to a body of water. Note that plumbing floods are treated differently by insurers and are usually covered in a basic home insurance plan.

Insurance Can Cover Temporary Housing Too

Insurance may or may not cover your costs if you need to temporarily move out of your house because of a natural disaster. That is an optional add-on in most plans, but it's one that can be helpful; it means that you never have to worry about having a place to live, even if a disaster should befall your home.

Property May Not Be Covered

You might assume that your personal property is covered during a natural disaster, but that is not always the case. You have to specifically insure your personal belongings in order to get coverage for those.

In short, be sure that you specifically review each section of your home insurance policy to make sure that you have adequate coverage for the natural disasters that are most likely to happen in your area.

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