Florida Weather Damage. Are losses covered by insurance?

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Florida Weather Damage. Are losses covered by
insurance?
The photos and videos we are seeing in Florida as
a result of Hurricane Ike, are disheartening. I
watched Greg Kelly the other night bring a guest
on his show who was a congressman representing
the Fort Myers area. He said that, as a result
of previous hurricanes, the State of Florida had
improved and strengthened its building codes but
no building codes ever anticipated the
devastation caused by flooding.
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Are such losses covered by insurance? I have
adjusted commercial claims that include amounts
available for flooding. As an example, I adjusted
a claim with a seven million dollar policy
limit, yet there was only 50,000 allocated for
flooding. It isnt much but, unless a policy
indicates the amount is per location on a
multiple building commercial policy, that is all
that is available for flood. Homeowners
insurance policies are not that generous. Most
homeowner policies provide nothing for flooding
or water damage. Some policies, however, do have
a separate policy included with theirs that
insures against flood by the National Flood
Insurance Program (FEMA). That is another reason
to view your policy and know what is in it. But,
here is a twist if the water damage is
accompanied by another peril, such as wind, there
will be coverage. Here is how that works If
wind rips off a roof and water floods the home,
there will be insurance coverage BUT THE WIND
HAS TO GET THERE BEFORE THE WATER. Insurance
Companies will retain engineers to determine if
it was water or wind causing damage FIRST. If it
was water first, I am sorry to tell you there is
very little hope I can give you. If an engineer
comes to your home or business, ask him or her
for their opinion ON THE SPOT. State Farm got in
trouble after Hurricane Katrina for faking
engineering reports showing water got there
first. As a matter of fact, just last month,
State Farm had to pay 100 million for those
false Katrina claims. State Farms actions were
first discovered by an insurance consumer who
got an engineer to disclose to her that it was
indeed, and that had destroyed her home allowing
water to enter. (AP News 2022). While water
damage is excluded in most insurance policies,
many insurance policies do cover for the loss of
frozen items in a refrigerator or freezer when
electrical power is lost. You will want to check
your policy for this or ask your agent if such a
provision is in your insurance policy. Further,
even though water damage is an exclusion in
insurance policies, this is not always the case.
I have seen some older Foremost policies that
provided for flood damage. Always review your
policy thoroughly and, if you are uncertain as to
what is covered, get someone to read it to you.
You may be surprised to learn that, "in a
majority of the courts that have been called on
to interpret an insurance policy, the person
seeking insurance must read the insurance
contract or, at the very least, have a lawyer or
professional insurance read, understand, and
explain the policy to the person acquiring the
insurance." (Zalma, 2020). Brown - OHaver
professionals can assist in reviewing your policy.