Hurricane season is here: How to protect your home

A standard homeowners policy alone won’t fully protect you from hurricane damage — you need the right combination of coverage in place before a storm hits. Hurricane season in the Atlantic basin runs June 1 to November 30, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts a below-normal 2026 season, with a 55% chance of below-normal activity, a 35% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 10% chance of an above-normal one. NOAA expects 8 to 14 named storms, 3 to 6 of which could become hurricanes, including one to three major hurricanes.

That said, a quieter forecast doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. The 2026 season is already underway and has made its presence felt. Tropical Storm Arthur formed on June 17 and made landfall along the upper Texas coast, triggering major flooding across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle. 

Tropical Storm Bertha followed in mid-July, battering Florida’s Gulf Coast with rough surf and storm surge, the wall of water a storm pushes ashore. Communities including Destin and Panacea lost dozens of sea turtle nests as beaches eroded and nesting areas flooded. Florida is a common target, but residents along the entire eastern coast and Gulf states need to be prepared, and that starts with having the right insurance in place before a storm forms. 

How do you protect your home before a hurricane?

To protect your home before a hurricane, install impact-resistant windows or storm shutters, reinforce your roof with hurricane straps, secure or remove outdoor items that can become projectiles, and reinforce your garage door. Start with the exterior — wind and water enter through openings first.

Exterior

• Install impact-resistant windows or storm shutters on all openings, including garage doors
• Inspect and reinforce your roof with hurricane straps or clips to keep it anchored to the wall structure
• Clear gutters and downspouts so water drains away from the foundation
• Trim trees and remove dead branches that could become projectiles
• Secure or store outdoor furniture, equipment, and anything that can become airborne

Structure

• Reinforce entry doors with heavy-duty deadbolts and three-point locking systems
• Check that your garage door is rated for hurricane-force winds — it is one of the most vulnerable points on a home
• Seal gaps around windows, doors, and utility penetrations to reduce wind and water intrusion

Inside your home

• Elevate valuables, appliances, and electronics off ground level if you are in a flood-prone area
• Know where your main water, gas, and electrical shutoffs are and how to use them
• Keep a go-bag ready with documents, medication, and essentials in case you need to evacuate quickly

Does homeowners insurance cover hurricane damage?

Standard homeowners insurance doesn’t cover hurricane damage by default. To be protected, you’ll typically need one or more of the following: a windstorm endorsement (an add-on that covers wind damage), a hurricane-specific deductible, or in some states, a standalone windstorm policy. Without these in place, hurricane damage may not be covered at all.

There’s no such thing as a standalone hurricane insurance policy. Hurricane protection is always built on top of your homeowners policy, not sold separately. Even a policy marketed as “all-risk” — meaning it covers most damage unless something is specifically excluded — can still leave out hurricane-related damage.

“You have to go through your policy to see if there are any limitations to coverage when it comes to hurricanes,” Candise Shanbron, managing partner of Cernitz Law in Miami.

How much will your insurance actually pay after a hurricane? 

When a hurricane damages your home, how much your insurer pays depends on whether your policy covers replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV). Replacement cost pays what it costs to repair or replace damaged property at today’s prices. Actual cash value pays that same amount minus depreciation — on a 15-year-old roof, that can leave you significantly short.

Roofs are where this distinction hits hardest. Many insurers apply actual cash value to roofs specifically, even on policies that otherwise cover the structure at replacement cost. Check your declarations page for the roof loss settlement method — it will state either replacement cost value or actual cash value.

Here’s how the two compare:

What does homeowners insurance not cover?

Homeowners insurance covers some hurricane damage but not all of it. Wind damage is covered under a standard policy. Water damage — storm surge, flooding, and rainfall — is not. A single storm can cause both at once, with only one of them covered.

“Homeowners policies don’t cover damage from storm surge,” says Steve Gaer, president of Recoop Disaster Insurance, a company that makes lump-sum payments to policyholders after a disaster. Storm surge is the wall of ocean water a hurricane pushes onto land. It is treated as flooding, not wind damage, regardless of how directly the hurricane caused it.

Water damage is not limited to coastal areas. Hurricane Helene made that clear in 2024, when it caused historic rainfall and flooding in North Carolina, hundreds of miles from where it made landfall.

Here’s what’s covered: 

What coverage do you need for a hurricane besides homeowners insurance?

You’ll need more than one policy for full hurricane protection. Since a standard homeowners policy won’t cover flood damage, most homeowners in hurricane-prone areas end up layering a few different coverages on top of it.

“[Homeowners] definitely want to make sure they have two insurance lines,” says Tyler Ardron, executive vice president of Floodproofing.com, a company that provides products and design solutions to prevent flood damage.

Here’s what to consider adding, based on coverage level:

How do hurricane deductibles work?

Hurricane deductibles work differently from standard ones. A standard deductible is a flat dollar amount, but a hurricane deductible is a percentage of your home’s insured value, which usually makes it much more expensive.

Here’s the difference. With a flat $1,000 deductible, a $20,000 claim means you pay $1,000 and your insurer pays $19,000. A hurricane deductible is a percentage instead, so a 5% deductible on a $400,000 home is $20,000 out of your pocket.

Work out that dollar amount for your own home before a storm hits, so it doesn’t catch you off guard when you file a claim.

A few states make insurers show it for you. “In Florida, it’s mandated that the percentage be shown as the actual number,” Shanbron says. If your state doesn’t, ask your insurer to tell you the dollar amount.

Can home upgrades lower your premium?

If you upgrade your home to withstand storms, your insurer may lower your premium. This is called a mitigation credit — it’s basically a discount for making your home harder to damage.

Upgrades that commonly qualify include:

• Storm shutters
• Hurricane-impact windows and doors
• Impact-resistant shingles and protective roof coating
• Flood barrier systems
• Raising your home higher off the ground
• Updating an older home to meet current building codes

The savings can add up. Ardron says these upgrades can meaningfully lower both flood and wind coverage costs for homeowners, and that commercial property owners often save even more.

Not every upgrade qualifies, and it depends on your insurer. Before you spend money on any of these, call your insurer and ask which upgrades they’ll actually give you credit for and how much you’d save.

What to do if no insurer will cover your home 

In some hurricane-prone areas, insurance companies are pulling out of the market or limiting how many new policies they write, trying to reduce their own risk. That can leave homeowners with few, or no, private options. If private insurers won’t cover your home, you can turn to a state-run “insurer of last resort.”

“Each state might have a catastrophic fund for those who can’t find coverage elsewhere,” Shanbron says. A catastrophic fund is a state-backed insurance program that steps in when the private market won’t.

A couple of real examples:

• The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association offers wind and hail coverage to property owners who can’t get insurance on the private market.
• The Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association provides coverage to eligible homeowners in the coastal areas of Baldwin and Mobile counties.
• California’s FAIR Plan offers basic fire coverage to homeowners who can’t find insurance through private insurers, often due to wildfire risk. It’s a similar last-resort model, though aimed at fire rather than hurricane risk.

Florida takes a different approach on the prevention side. The state’s Hurricane Loss Mitigation Program provides grants to help homeowners retrofit their homes against hurricane damage, which can reduce risk before a storm hits and potentially lower your insurance costs through the mitigation credits covered earlier.

Whichever route applies to you, work with more than one insurance agent and compare coverage from multiple companies. Different agents work with different insurers, so casting a wider net gives you more coverage options than any single agent can show you.

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