Storm Damages Your Home — What and How Much Does Insurance Cover?

Strong storm winds can trouble Estonia throughout the year — a storm can rage in spring, summer, winter, and autumn. What should you know about damage caused by storms to your home if you have home insurance? To what extent does insurance cover the damages?

On ERGO insurance's website it states: Damage to the insured object caused by storm, rime ice, or hail is covered.

A storm is understood as wind with an average speed or gusts of at least 18 meters per second. An insured event caused by a storm also includes damage that has occurred as a direct result of the storm from falling trees, poles, or other objects on the insured object. If the wind speed at the location of the damage cannot be determined, then the existence of a storm is presumed if the policyholder proves that previously undamaged buildings or objects in the vicinity of the insured location have been damaged and the storm was the only cause of the damage.

Often water leaks through the roof simply because the roof is poorly built or has worn out. Therefore, not every damage is necessarily caused by a storm. However, a strong storm can also cause damage to a properly built building, and it is against such cases that the insurance company offers protection.

Exclusions

The insurance company does not cover damage caused by rain, snow, or snowmelt water that has entered through openings in the building or structure, through the roof, walls, or other building elements, or by hail or hail melt water, except in cases where the formation of the openings became possible due to an insured event. The openings that have occurred must be verifiable.

If water enters the house through existing openings (an open window, ventilation opening, roof crack, etc.), then it is not an insured event. Damage is covered only if an event defined as an insured event (such as a storm) has damaged the building in such a way that water can enter the building.

The insurance company does not cover damage causally related to construction work performed on the insured object. Construction work is the erection, expansion, reconstruction, alteration of technical systems, and demolition of a building. Reconstruction of a building is the alteration of the building's enclosing structures and the alteration and replacement of bracing and load-bearing structures. Construction work does not include maintenance or repair of the building (such as wallpapering, painting, replacement of flooring or windows and doors).

Construction work is associated with higher risk. The cause of damage resulting from construction work is not a natural disaster but risks related to construction (builder's negligence, a greater source of danger, etc.). Such risks are typically covered by separate insurance protection for construction companies. A claim for damage compensation must be submitted directly against the party performing the work. The basis for submitting a claim is the construction contract between the work's client and the builder.

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