A year has passed and Katrina has proven to be a driving issue for the insurance world. While insurers like State Farm have paid out over $1 billion in claims to 85,000 homeowners in Mississippi, many homeowners feel that they have been treated unfairly by the insurers. As the media seldomly explains the insurance perspective after a disaster, opting for the human interest angle, it is a good time to cover the resounding issues.

The question of insurance coverage and payment boils down to wind vs. water. The determination of what damage was caused by the high winds of the storm, and what damage was caused by the storm surge and flooding that follows. A typical homeowners policy does not cover damage caused by storm surge or flooding (supplemental coverage can be purchased separately through your insurer and/or the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)), but will cover damages caused by wind.

In a recent precedent setting court case, a homeowner affected by Katrina charged that the insurer was incorrectly attributing the majority of the damage to their home to storm surge and not by the preceding 140 mph winds. The judge found that the insurer correctly reviewed the claim and the majority of the damage was water related. Absent a flood policy, the homeowner was only due monies for the wind damage to their home. The judge also found the agent not negligent in explaining their coverage. The terms of the policy were quite clear in what it covered and what was excluded in terms of water damage.

This case being the first of many to go through the court system, it does set a solid standard of interpretation for the cases to follow. It also underlines the extreme importance of understanding your insurance policy.

A quick review of a homeowners policy may show the following typical water damage exclusions:

• Surface Water - any loss caused by flood, surface water, waves, or tidal water including backup of sewers and drains or runoff.
• Ground Water - any loss caused by water in the ground, leakage, seepage, or pressure.
• Water damage to outside structures - loss to a fence, arbor, swimming pool, retaining wall or dock caused by freezing, thawing, pressure, or weight of snow or ice.

However, a flood policy or additional coverage may be available for many situations, please discuss your policy and the prevention of other losses not listed with your agent today!

Shepard Insurance Group is now offering Video Archiving, a visual record that creates a fully detailed room-by-room inventory of your home and contents.

Video archiving on DVD provides the security that your home is properly documented in the event of an unfortunate loss.

Contact us for more information!

The new British version of Monopoly is bringing its wheeling and dealing into the 21st century - instead of the old paper money, transactions are completed with a debit card and scanner!

Researchers have reduced the number of likely named storms in 2006-2007 to 13, with only a possible 5 reaching hurricane strength, and feel a repeat of Katrina is unlikely.

On that positive note, as of September 1 of this year we were only at letter E with no hurricanes making landfall! In 2005 we were already at letter K with Katrina.

However, it is felt that hurricane activity will continue to be above average for the next 15 to 20 years.
Source: msn.com/travelweekly.com