Reduce the potential for hurricane damage to your home | Opinion
As summer nears, families across Florida are looking to enjoy the warm weather and abundant sunshine. But now that we are in June, there’s another important season that Floridians must take time to prepare for ― hurricane season.
While most know to stock up on water, canned goods, and batteries, it’s also important to prepare for hurricane season by taking steps to reduce the potential for damage to your property and reviewing your insurance coverage.
While Colorado State University predicts this hurricane season will be slightly below average for overall storm activity, the University of Arizona has separately forecasted an above average number of ‘major hurricanes’ due to very warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures. As our state unfortunately saw with recent Hurricanes Ian and Michael, it only takes one storm to devastate communities, which is why Floridians should be proactive about preparing early.
There are several low-cost ways that Floridians can make their property more resilient against the high winds and heavy rain hurricanes bring. Before hurricane season arrives, check around your home or business and trim back any nearby branches or trees, inspect the roof and repair any loose or damaged shingles, secure loose gutters, and seal gaps and cracks around windows and doors to prevent water intrusion. Installing a wind-rated garage door or hurricane shutters and upgrading the home to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety’s FORTIFIED construction standard are additional measures to consider.
Insurers encourage taking these steps to help reduce the potential for damage to your home if a storm strikes, and many offer premium discounts for mitigation measures. Talk to your insurer or agent about what discounts might be available to you.
To prepare for hurricane season, it is also imperative that homeowners and business owners review and, if needed, update their insurance policies. Check your deductible, which is what you will pay out of pocket before insurance kicks in, and make sure you are comfortable with the amount. A higher deductible is a beneficial tool that can help lower your premium, but make sure you are able to cover the cost if your home is damaged. Your policy may also have a separate hurricane deductible, which is applied when there is a named storm and is typically higher than the standard deductible.
More: As hurricane season starts June 1, NHC says no tropical cyclones expected, for now
More: Bill gives Brevard County's south beaches extra protection from increased development
Inflation, supply chain issues, and increased demand for skilled labor and construction materials following several years of unprecedented natural disasters have all contributed to a significant increase in the costs and timeframes to rebuild homes and businesses. Homeowners and business owners need to ensure the coverage provided by their insurance policy is keeping pace with these elevated costs. There are key additional coverage features, such as automatic inflation guard, extended replacement cost, and building code/ordinance coverage, that property owners can consider to help prevent being underinsured.
Actively preparing for hurricane season each year by conducting an insurance check-up and making our homes more resilient against potential hurricane damage also helps support the overall property insurance market in Florida.
Florida’s property insurance market remains extremely challenging for consumers and insurers. Floridians pay some of the highest property insurance costs in the nation, and Florida residential property insurers experienced back-to-back net losses of more than $1 billion a year in each of the last three years, despite no storms making landfall in the state in 2020 or 2021, underscoring the costly impacts of legal system abuse.
Florida’s property insurance market was driven to near collapse due to years of rampant legal system abuse and excessive lawsuits, which led to skyrocketing insurance costs and fewer choices in the marketplace. Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have shown tremendous leadership in addressing the property insurance crisis by passing historic reforms during the 2023 Legislative Session to reduce widespread legal system abuse and ultimately help increase the availability and affordability of insurance. Recent news of more insurance companies entering the market is already a hopeful and positive sign.
Over time, the legal system abuse reforms are expected to help stabilize the market and lower costs, but it should not be expected to happen immediately. Before the reforms went into effect, billboard lawyers – worried only about their own payday – rushed to file tens of thousands of lawsuits. Insurers are working through the latest surge in lawsuits, but with so much litigation still pending, it could delay the anticipated positive impact of the recent reforms.
Another devastating hurricane this season could set the marketplace back again, but by taking time to strengthen our homes and be financially prepared, we can make our communities more resilient and help improve the market for all Floridians.
Logan McFaddin is Vice President of State Government Relations for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida hurricane season means check your insurance policy
