PoliSays

Poli Storm Watch

3 active systems — and one number decides your storm

Tracks and cones come straight from the National Hurricane Center. What a storm costs you comes from your own declarations page: a hurricane deductible written as a percentage, a flood exclusion, a roof paid at depreciated value. Poli quotes those clauses from your document.

Positions, forecast points, and cone radii come from the National Hurricane Center’s public advisories. The cone shows where the centre may track — damage regularly happens well outside it.

Check a ZIP

Is your ZIP in the cone?

Type a five-digit ZIP. We measure it against the active forecast tracks and pull the current National Weather Service watches and warnings for that spot. The ZIP is used for the answer and then dropped — nothing is stored.

Poli Storm Vision

Photograph the house while the sky is still clear

Dated pre-storm photos are the cheapest claim evidence you will ever collect. Point your phone at each room and elevation and Poli writes the inventory — items, brands, replacement bands, condition notes. Photos are read once and never stored.

Start my inventory

Before landfall

Six things worth doing while the power is still on

Photograph every room and elevation

Dated pre-storm photos are the cheapest evidence you will ever collect.

Know your named-storm deductible in dollars

A percentage deductible is not the number printed beside all other perils.

Confirm whether you carry flood at all

Homeowners forms generally exclude surge and rising water, and new flood policies have a waiting period.

Put policy numbers and claim lines somewhere offline

A screenshot on the phone beats a website you cannot reach without power.

Start a receipt folder before you evacuate

Loss of use is reimbursed against what you actually spent.

Locate the water, gas, and breaker shutoffs

Cutting water fast is the difference between a wet floor and a gutted first floor.

How storm clauses generally read

What filed forms usually say — and the question only your policy answers

A hurricane deductible is usually a percentage, not a flat amount

Coastal homeowners policies commonly carry a separate hurricane or named-storm deductible written as 1%, 2%, or 5% of the dwelling limit. On a $400,000 dwelling, 2% is $8,000 out of pocket before anything is paid — many times the ordinary all-other-perils deductible printed beside it.

Ask Poli: “What is my hurricane or named-storm deductible in dollars, and when does it apply instead of the regular one?”

Wind and water are two different policies

Homeowners forms generally cover wind-driven damage and exclude flood, including storm surge and rising water. Flood coverage normally lives in a separate NFIP or private flood policy, and new flood policies usually have a waiting period, so it cannot be added once a storm is named.

Ask Poli: “Does this policy exclude flood or storm surge, and where does it say so?”

Some coastal policies exclude windstorm entirely

In parts of Texas, Florida, and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, wind is written out of the homeowners policy and carried on a separate windstorm policy from a state pool or a specialty carrier. Two policies, two deductibles, two claim numbers.

Ask Poli: “Is windstorm or hail excluded from this policy, and is there an endorsement adding it back?”

Food spoilage after a power loss is usually capped, and sometimes off-premises power doesn't count

Where refrigerated-property coverage exists it is typically a small sublimit, often $500, and some forms only respond when the power interruption happened on the premises rather than out at the utility.

Ask Poli: “Is there refrigerated food or spoilage coverage, what is the limit, and does an off-premises power failure trigger it?”

Evacuation costs and loss of use are not the same thing

Additional living expense generally responds when the home is unfit to live in from covered damage, and some forms add civil-authority-prohibits-use coverage for a limited number of weeks. A voluntary evacuation before a storm arrives often falls outside both.

Ask Poli: “If we evacuate and cannot return, what does loss of use or civil authority coverage pay, and for how long?”

A fallen tree is priced by what it landed on

Most forms pay to remove a tree only when it damaged a covered structure, often with a small removal cap such as $500 or $1,000. Fences and other detached structures usually draw on the separate other-structures limit, not the dwelling limit.

Ask Poli: “A tree came down on the house and the fence — what does the policy pay to remove it and rebuild?”

Roof payment can be replacement cost or depreciated value

Many coastal policies carry a roof surfacing schedule or an actual-cash-value roof endorsement that pays a depreciated amount on an older roof. The endorsement, not the headline coverage, decides that.

Ask Poli: “Is my roof paid at replacement cost or actual cash value, and is there a roof surfacing schedule?”

A ten-minute photo pass before the storm is free evidence

Walk each room, each elevation of the house, the roof line from the ground, and the serial plates on major appliances and equipment. Photographs dated before landfall settle the pre-existing-damage argument that decides a large share of disputed wind claims.

Ask Poli: “What does this policy require me to document or prove after a loss?”

Every policy has a clock on it

Duties-after-loss wording generally requires prompt notice, reasonable emergency repairs to prevent further damage, and keeping the damaged property available for inspection. Several states also set a deadline for filing a hurricane claim at all.

Ask Poli: “What are my duties after a loss and how long do I have to report a hurricane claim?”

Rebuilding to today's code can cost more than the policy limit

After widespread damage, current building code often requires straps, sheathing, or elevation the original house never had. Ordinance-or-law coverage is usually a percentage of the dwelling limit, and where it is missing that upgrade cost lands on the owner.

Ask Poli: “Do I have ordinance or law coverage, and what percentage of the dwelling limit is it?”

By state

Coastal states where wind and flood are written differently

Prepare in Texas

Much of the coast carries windstorm on a separate policy, often through the state pool.

Prepare in Louisiana

Named-storm deductibles are commonly percentage-based, and flood sits in a separate policy.

Prepare in Mississippi

Coastal counties frequently see wind and hail written out of the homeowners form.

Prepare in Alabama

Wind mitigation credits and separate wind deductibles are both common along the Gulf.

Prepare in Florida

Hurricane deductibles run 2% to 5% of the dwelling limit, and roof payment basis varies by endorsement.

Prepare in Georgia

Coastal counties often carry a separate named-storm deductible inland of the barrier islands.

Prepare in South Carolina

Wind pool coverage and percentage hurricane deductibles are both widespread on the coast.

Prepare in North Carolina

Beach Plan wind coverage and separate named-storm deductibles are common east of I-95.

Prepare in Virginia

Hurricane deductibles are typically triggered by a named storm reaching the state.

Prepare in New York

Downstate policies often carry a hurricane deductible triggered by wind speed thresholds.

Prepare in New Jersey

Shore counties commonly carry percentage hurricane deductibles and separate flood policies.

Prepare in Hawaii

Hurricane coverage is usually a separate policy from the homeowners form.