Many homeowners insurance policies cover you for a number of natural disasters. But there are some natural disasters that are not covered.
Recent storms in the Triad are a reminder to make sure you have the right protection for your property when it comes to natural disasters.
"Anything caused by wind, lightning, fire or hail damage, you are cover for that in a homeowners policy," said Christopher Cook of Alliance Insurance Services. A comprehensive car insurance policy will also protect from lightning damage.
Cook warned not to just limit your protection to a standard homeowners policy because there are also a number of things that your home is not insured for. He added that when many people hear the phrase 'Natural Disaster' they usually think of earthquake and floods and assume that is covered in a standard policy.
"Damage caused by an earthquake is not covered on a homeowners policy but you can add it on and that is something that I would advise to ask their homeowner's insurance agent about."
Many Triad communities have seen a lot of damage from floods due to recent heavy rains in the past week.
Whenever a wet weather pattern is sustained over a short period of time or there is news of flooding in nearby communities, Cook said people rush to buy flood insurance. However, they don't take certain factors into consideration.
"The standard flood policy does not take effect until 30 days after purchase, so you can't buy a flood policy today, have it flood tomorrow and be covered. So that something people need to think about now."
Another thing to think about is hurricanes, which peak in late Summer. According to FEMA, nearly 93,000 people filed flood loss claims in August 2017 and nearly 37,000 in September 2017.
"The common advice is to make sure we secure all things on the outside so that you don't have patio furniture or children's toys acting as a projectile coming through your house knocking out windows."
Cook advised that the best way to stay protected is to be armed with information by sitting down with your insurance agent and discussing your needs and options. He also said to make sure you know if your payout will be the depreciated value of your lost property or the replacement cost. Many policies come with replacement cost option but Cook said don't make any assumption, just ask questions.
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