Homeowners Insurance - I need help!

OK we are not in an area that requires flood insurance. However with the storm surge that a hurricane could bring we believe we could have a total loss from storm surge if a strong cat 2 or a 3 hits directly.

We have Hurricane coverage and my agent is telling me that it doesn't cover damage from storm surge. Storm surge is part of the hurricane but she's telling me we still aren't covered.

Does anyone know if this sounds right? Is it true that we need separate flood insurance to cover storm surge damage?

We are in Lindenhurst (a few blocks north of Montauk Highway), use State Farm Insurance and strongly considering switching homeowners insurance, can anyone make a recommendation?

Re: Homeowners Insurance - I need help!

We have Travelers and the same thing applies. We're covered if a hurricane hits and our house gets totally blown away, but not for storm surge. Luckilly, we are on a part of the Island that it would take one h*ll of a storm surge to damage our house. Ever since the hurricanes of the past two years, insurance companies have been dropping coverage for storm surge damage. If you have any possibility of having damage from storm surge, it might be a wise idea to have separate flood insurance.

Re: Homeowners Insurance - I need help!

It's not covered as hurricane damage because storm surge causes flood damage to your home. It's not the wind from the hurricane causing the damage but the water from the flooding. Usually no damage from water coming inside your home from the outside is covered, but a flood from, say a burst pipe, would be covered under the regular policy (but the burst pipe itself wouldn't be covered). That is my understanding of the policy and it's the same wherever you go.