Homeowners in the Midwest are the most prepared for an extreme weather event

If a hurricane, wildfire, tornado, or any other extreme weather event were to hit the United States, around 26% of homeowners would be financially unprepared to handle it.

According to a recent survey from Bankrate , US homeowners are sharing that they are not prepared to handle the damage to their homes caused by extreme weather patterns.

Of all of those surveyed, homeowners in the South (29%) were the most likely to report not being prepared, followed by the West (28%), and the Northeast (25%).

The most likely to be prepared were those in the Midwest, as only 19% said they would be unprepared if where they lived was hit by extreme weather.

The surveyors asked homeowners how they would pay to fix damage caused by an extreme weather event, and 15% said they would have to go into debt just to afford their homeowner insurance policy.

Another 7% said they don’t even have homeowner insurance.

Even with a majority of homeowners who participated in the study saying their home is insured, most don’t know if they have the coverage needed to protect against extreme weather events.

Additionally, 43% said they haven’t done anything to protect against extreme weather since July 2019.

Just 39% of all respondents said they have reviewed their home and auto insurance policies to ensure they have the correct coverage in the case of an emergency.

On top of that, only 9% say they’ve invested in taking preventative measures by weatherproofing their homes.

“Extreme weather has changed the insurance landscape, and understanding your home insurance policy coverage is more critical now than ever,” Shannon Martin, a Bankrate analyst who specializes in insurance, shared in the report. “Many insurance companies have reevaluated how they rate extreme weather, and some have changed the perils they are willing to cover. Reviewing your insurance policy to ensure you have proper coverage is the best first step.”

Martin stressed that homeowners “should be aware of the natural hazards in their area and work to protect their homes accordingly.”

“Ultimately, every step toward protecting the investment you have made in your home, whether big or small, is a positive one,” she said.