Certain storms bring a high wind that exceeds the classification of what your home insurance policy covers. In these instances, you must have additional coverage in place to protect yourself. Windstorm insurance can provide coverage for the damage caused by high wind events such as tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones.

Windstorm insurance can cover both the outside buildings and main structure of your property, as well as the inside contents. Windstorm coverage may not be automatically provided for in a standard home insurance policy, but it can be added through a rider or endorsement. Some, such as individuals living in zones that are prone to catastrophic winds, may find that they need a separate policy for adequate windstorm coverage. Often, this coverage will also pay for the damages associated with hail.

Generally, if you live in an area that is susceptible to high-wind storms and your home insurance policy does not automatically cover the damages they could cause, you will want to add this protection. Remember that if a flood occurs as a result of the storm, the windstorm coverage will generally not cover the damages. Instead, you’d need to look to your flood insurance policy.

Windstorm coverage added as a rider to your home insurance policy will generally have a separate deductible from the rest of the hazards covered by the policy (for areas prone to hurricanes, this may be referred to as a hurricane deducible). This amount is generally represented as a percentage of the policy’s overall limit. In order to determine which deductible applies to an individual event, your insurer might rely on the National Weather Service’s classification of the recent storm that caused the damage to your property.