The 2018 hurricane season starts today and runs through November 30th. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, NOAA, forecast for 2018 hedged their bets with a 25% chance of us have a below normal season, a 40% chance of a near normal season, and a 35% chance of us having an above normal season.
Sheri and I visited family in Alabama over the Memorial Day weekend. We all watched the weather reports on sub-tropical storm Alberto as it turned north in the Gulf and headed toward the Florida panhandle and Alabama. It serves as an excellent reminder that hurricane season officially begins on Friday, June 1 and runs through the end of November. With that in mind, let’s review home insurance and remember a hurricane or named storm can impact central and north Texas residents as easily as it does our coastal neighbors. Specifically, I’ll address two key areas of your home insurance policy to review along with two other related policies.
Last week I wrote about the two types of hurricane related claims, wind and storm surge, which is related to flooding (see https://wiseinsurancegroup.com/two-types-insurance-claims-hurricane-harvey/). A conversation I had with a client reminded me of a third type of home insurance claim, wind driven rain, which can cause significant damage to the interior of your home.
The 2017 hurricane season started last week running from June 1 through the end of November. Depending on which forecast you prefer to reference, the 2017 season will be higher than average with 11 to 17 named storms with 5 to 9 of those becoming hurricanes and 2 to 4 of those becoming a category 3 or greater.
The 2016 hurricane season starts tomorrow. It runs from June 1 through the end of November. Some forecasters are predicting the 2016 season could be the biggest since 2012 with 10 to 16 tropical storms and 4 to 8 hurricanes with 1 to 4 reaching major storm status.
Hurricane Dolly struck South Padre Island on July 23, 2008 with winds near 100 miles per hour, a four foot storm surge, and 12 to 15 inches of rain. Damage to structures on the Island and in Port Isabel, across the bridge on the Texas mainland, was pretty moderate and consisted of mostly damage to roofs. Power was knocked out to most residents and businesses for one to two weeks. Anything perishable, whether in a business or home spoiled.
People who live in the counties along the Texas coast usually have a policy that’s unfamiliar to most homeowners in north Texas. In addition to home insurance, most homeowners in the coastal counties of Texas will also have a separate wind insurance policy. This policy specifically addresses damage to a home caused by high winds normally associated with a hurricane.
?There are always an interesting set of numbers about any storm like Sandy. Here are some of the ones I thought to be interesting,
– 932 – The number of miles across / wide for the storm. This distance is about the distance from New York to Jacksonville, Florida. At its largest, Sandy would have covered almost 1/3 of the United States.
– 13.88 – The height in feet for the storm surge that occurred from the wind pushing the water that high.
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