David Hester examines the damage to his home after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, on September 28, 2024.
Chandan Khanna | Afp | Getty Images
It's important to understand how to file a home insurance claim after a natural disaster.
Only the insured damage The cost of Hurricane Helene is now estimated at more than $6 billion.
Meanwhile, analysts say Hurricane Milton could be a “once in a century” storm with the potential to cause record-breaking damage when it makes landfall on Florida's west coast on Wednesday.
Once you are safely out of harm's way, beginning the insurance claim process is an important consideration. The sooner you report a loss, the sooner your insurance company can begin the process and you can begin rebuilding, experts say.
“Your adjuster will be assigned on a first come, first served basis,” said Shannon Martin, a licensed insurance agent and analyst for Bankrate.com.
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Your insurance company's processing department will have to process a “tremendous amount of paperwork and claims,” said Jeremy Porter, director of climate impact research at the First Street Foundation, an organization focused on financial modeling of climate risks in New York City.
“The longer you wait, the longer you not only delay the ability for your claim to be approved and get to you, but you also increase the amount of time that claim sits in the processing pipeline,” Porter said.
According to experts, here are three important steps to quickly file an insurance claim after a disaster.
1. Call your insurer as soon as possible
Experts recommend including copies of your insurance policies and contact numbers in a disaster preparedness kit that you can take with you during an evacuation and keep safe otherwise.
Once a disaster has passed, contact your insurance company immediately and let them know that your home was damaged in a recent disaster and you would like to begin the claim process, Porter said.
If you're evacuated, “you can file the lawsuit from anywhere,” Porter said. “At some point you will need to make an appointment with the insurance company to actually assess and inspect the damage.”
However, if you decide to wait out the storm in your home, you must first prevent further damage to the home before calling, Bankrate.com's Martin said.
A typical home insurance policy requires homeowners to mitigate the impact and prevent further damage, she said.
“Then you can call the insurance company, take photos of the damage and [move] Moving items to safer locations,” Martin said.
2. Create a damage report
During your call, give your insurance company some initial details, such as whether your roof blew off or multiple windows were broken, Porter said.
“But they won't really make their assessment until they come and assess the damage,” he said.
While the insurer is conducting its own inspection, it's always important to document your damages, including taking photos so you can compare them to the formal inspection record that comes from the insurance company, Porter said.
That way, any claims can be disputed later if necessary, he said.
3. Keep records of receipts
In the event of damage, you must notify your insurer immediately and have a duty to protect the property, said Daniel Schwarcz, a professor of insurance law at the University of Minnesota Law School.
You need to protect the property from further damage after the storm, make appropriate repairs and have an accurate record of repair costs, Schwarcz said.
The receipts you must keep relate to purchased materials that will be used to prevent further damage to the property that has already been damaged by an insured peril, Schwarcz said – meaning wind and trees, but generally not flooding, unless you have flood insurance. The insurer will usually reimburse you for the reasonable costs you incur.
If you fail to take such actions after the storm and that inaction results in further damage, the insurer is not obligated to cover the loss, he said.
Materials purchased to protect the home from the natural disaster – for example, plywood to cover windows – are often not covered.
You should also keep a record of receipts when working with contractors to repair the damage, experts say.
Distinction between damage and successive disasters
One of the reasons you want to document the damage with your insurer immediately is so you can attribute it to the event itself, which increases the likelihood that the event will be covered by your home insurance, Porter said.
“Filing the lawsuit immediately is the most important thing,” Porter said.
It's important to keep track of where the damage came from and having evidence can help prevent problems later, he said.
Port offers the hypothesis that someone whose home was damaged by Hurricane Debbie or Helene but did not file a lawsuit before Milton made landfall and caused flood damage.
“All of a sudden you have a problem where the National Flood Insurance Program, which covers flooding, and your home insurance policy, which covers wind, may be arguing about what actually caused the damage to the property,” Porter said.
You want to make sure you file a claim within three to five days of the incident, Martin said. “As long as you submitted all of your information in a timely manner about the first incident, if another incident occurs, you will be able to prove to the adjuster that it was a second incident,” she said.