Insurance
 

Do you need hurricane insurance for a home in the villages?

Ours is part of the regular insurance - i.e., no separate policy is needed. Just make sure that you talk with your agent to clarify what is covered and with what deductible.

Is there a difference between damage caused by hurricane winds
and flooding from rains? I thought that was an issue in some
hurricane areas.

Does anybody know for sure?

That's an excellent point, Mr. Tony. Our insurance agent told us that our homeowners policy included hurricane coverage, but that we would need a separate rider for coverage resulting from wind damage. Seems like a gotcha issue to me. Damage from a hurricane is more likely to be caused by wind and even more likely still to be declared wind damage by the insurance company. :sad:

Now I am totally lost. I thought wind is required for a hurricane and that wind damage would be covered. What is covered, then, with hurricane insurance? Wind damage? Water damage?

I may be mistaken, but I believe the state of Florida's hurricane insurance policies cover damage from hurricanes with the exception of water damage from surge that may accompany a hurricane. That is where flood insurance comes in. Florida is part of the National Flood Insurance Program. This means Federal Emergency Management Agency designates flood areas and NFIP bases your premium on the risk associated with FEMA's flood zones.

Does that make sense?

Here is information from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation.

http://www.floir.com/pdf/HOFloodDamage.pdf

Your question sent me scurrying to our policy to look it up and I quote:

"Hurricane loss means any loss resulting from the peril of windstorm caused by a hurricane....windstorm means wind, wind gusts, hail, rain, tornadoes, or cyclones caused by or resulting from a hurricane which results in direct physical loss or damage to property."

There is a separate deductible for losses caused by a hurricane but hurricanes are covered. What gets murky though, are losses during a hurricane covered by flooding. You're supposed to have flood insurance to cover those.

You might remember that was a big bone of contention when Mississippi homeowners claimed losses from "Katrina" under their hurricane policies. The insurance companies wouldn't pay, saying the losses were from storm surge flooding and not wind-driven rain. In other words, the homeowners should have purchased flood insurance.

flood??
 

Having talked to people in Mississippi post-katrina, and lived in Naples fl for a while, I found out that ins companies define floods as rising (not falling) water.Turns out to be an unwelcome surprise for those who don't ask the right questions.