South Carolina is blessed with natural beauty and cursed with unpredictable weather. We at Clean Masters know that hurricanes and rainstorms are a major problem for homeowners in North Charleston. While storms are unpredictable, one area that you can control is our insurance coverage. 

Is Hurricane Damage Covered By Insurance?

Well, that depends… The dwelling and personal property coverage provided by a homeowner’s insurance policy is primarily restricted by “perils”, or causes of damage. There’s no specific insurance policy that provides hurricane coverage, but depending on where you live and your coverage, certain damage may be covered by your homeowner’s policy. However, flooding due to hurricanes is consistently excluded from home and renters insurance, so you should also consider a flood insurance policy. Homeowners that live in hurricane-prone regions like ours may also have to supplement their coverage with windstorm insurance to cover all hurricane damages.

Wind damage, such as blowing shingles off a roof or a tree being ripped up, is covered by most homeowner’s insurance policies. But if you live in certain regions that are likely to face hurricanes, wind coverage may actually be an excluded peril from your policy. Check your home insurance declarations page now to confirm whether you need separate coverage for wind.

Homeowners insurance provides coverage for water damage, but flooding or storm surge from a hurricane is almost certainly excluded. There are questionable scenarios, such as if hurricane winds blow debris through your window and rain damages your carpeting. In these cases, your home insurance may step in to cover the carpet damage, but it is a case by case decision.

Sewer backup isn’t consistently covered by homeowner’s insurance, but you can generally add a sewer backup endorsement to your policy. If heavy rainfall from a hurricane causes sewer backup, you’d want to make sure you have both sewer backup and flood coverage in place to be sure that your damages are covered.

Since hurricanes cause multiple events to occur at the same time, they’re particularly risky. Homeowners insurance typically won’t cover a claim for hurricane damage to your car, RV or boat. Damage to these vehicles would be covered under the comprehensive portion of a full coverage car, RV or boat insurance policy. If a hurricane strikes, you may need to file a claim under one or all of these policies to receive compensation for the damage.

Even More Exceptions

Insurance policies typically include dollar limits for certain categories of property, such as artwork and furs, so evaluate your policy to determine the extent of your coverage. For example, if your policy has a $2,500 limit on valuables such as artwork, and you’re an art collector, you won’t receive any reimbursement for additional pieces lost beyond that amount unless you added a rider to cover the additional value of your art collection. Additionally, flood coverage is limited for any spaces below ground level. While your foundation is covered, carpeting, bookshelves, furniture, and most personal property won’t be covered if they’re stored in your basement.

A standard policy also won’t cover these items:

• Financial assets, such as cash or paper bonds
• Swimming pools
• Fences
• Hot tubs
• Porches
• Walkways
• Firepits
• Trees and other garden plants

Professional Water Damage Restoration In South Carolina

When researching companies to help with water damage to your home or business, only consider a team with experience in major catastrophes. Clean Masters has sophisticated equipment used by expertly trained technicians. Clean Masters has developed a detailed and comprehensive process that successfully eliminates all moisture from a structure and its contents. 

Clean Master’s services range from daily equipment rental to e mergency water removal . For water damage restoration in North Charleston, contact Clean Masters today.

Unpredictable Storms

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