We're very familiar with hurricane season, and many watch the predictions that come in late spring to prepare for how many storms can be expected and how many hurricanes and serious storms we may have to prepare for. Currently there are two storms in the Gulf, Tropical Storm Laura and Hurricane Marco. It's an unusual situation, with one storm tracking behind the other by twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
When the storms were still developing there were concerns that they could combine to become one large storm, which is rare. If one storm is significantly larger than the other one, the smaller storm will likely be absorbed by the larger storm. When the storms are close in strength, they most often spin around each other before shooting off on their own paths. They circulate around a vortex in the center of the storms, so the storms circle the vortex independently, like a pair of skaters who have locked hands and are spinning together. This is the Fujiwhara effect, when the storms occur at the same time and come close enough together to exist simultaneously. On very rare occasions the two storms will become one, with an additive effect.
Because Tropical Storm Laura is a day or two behind Hurricane Marco, there is no longer the concern that the two storms will merge. However, there are many other considerations. Aside from the standard issues of securing the house, gathering medications, important documents and preparing for evacuation, insureds must consider the issues involved in doing all this during a pandemic.
Insured's need to include face masks, soap or hand sanitizer, and other protective gear if necessary. As social distancing is in place insured's may not be able to go to the shelter they had planned to go to originally due to space limitations; insureds should prepare to go farther away in order to find shelter, or try to shelter with friends or relatives who are out of harm's way.
The fact that a second storm is following the first means that insureds may have to stay away from home and work for a longer period of time. Some insureds may not have to evacuate for the first storm but will have to evacuate for the second storm, or vice versa. Evacuation may be even more complicated for those who didn't have to evacuate for the first storm as shelters may be full, and they may have to go even farther afield to find shelter. Fewer restaurants and hotels may be open because of restrictions related to the pandemic, making it even harder.
One of the biggest issues will be which storm caused what damage, especially if the insured has to evacuate for both storms. If the insured cannot access his property until both storms have passed, he has no way of quantifying which storm caused what damage. An insured may have a hurricane deductible or a windstorm deductible, both or neither. Not all states have these deductibles, but states in which such storms are possible often do.
The HO 03 18 Hurricane Deductible schedules a dollar amount or percentage for the deductible. The deductible applies to loss by hail or windstorm caused when a hurricane watch or warning for any part of the state is declared by the National Hurricane Center, and ends twenty-four hours following the end of the last watch or warning. No other deductible applies during this period. This may be helpful to the insureds, as the second storm may begin during the watch during the first hurricane so that only one deductible can be applied.
The HO 03 12 Windstorm Percentage Deductible applies a scheduled percentage deductible in event of loss by windstorm or hail. No other deductible applies to loss caused by windstorm or hail. There is no definition of windstorm or a stated time frame within which the deductible applies.
The CP 03 21 Windstorm or Hail Percentage Deductible can be applied to the builders risk, building and personal property, condominium association, condominium commercial unit-owners, standard property and tobacco sales warehouses coverage forms. It applies a deductible percentage of 1 percent, 2 percent, or 5 percent to scheduled buildings. The deductible applies to each occurrence of windstorm or hail, and this does not expand coverage for any excluded perils. If the flood deductible applies or the insured has a separate flood policy, a separate flood deductible will apply to those flood losses.
However if the storms are separated by enough time, it is possible that an insured can be hit with two storm deductibles, if damage can be attributed separately to each storm. This will be very complicated. Many areas are apt to be under evacuation orders or shut down through both storms; while one storm may have stronger winds and more rain than the other, gusts of any strength are possible in any storm, so identifying in conjunction with wind speeds associated with any particular storm will still be complicated. Insureds who evacuated due to the first storm and had to stay away because of the second storm should receive the benefit of the doubt, and only have one hurricane or storm deductible applied.
Additional living expenses may be higher as insureds may have to stay away longer, and if insureds from different areas are looking for shelter in the same locations, cheaper hotels may be full so insureds may have to spend more for lodging. While the storms are on overlapping paths, to some extent the paths diverge, so an insured may have to leave one place of shelter to get to another place of shelter as the storms move in different directions. This will generate expenses from two separate locations.