Basic Insurance Question

[TheRic]

With the high winds in Cal. we were discussing if there is a difference between high wind damage and tornado damage. Not talking about how much damage can be done, but is there a difference in what the insurance can cover, or how it covers the damage, etc.

Cal. is expecting 80 MPH gusts, a tornado rating is F0: 40-72 MPH, F1: 73-112 MPH. I see after wind damage hits an area they make a big thing about determining if it was a tornado or straight line winds. Is this because of insurance, or some kind of bragging rights?!?

Yes, I know it will vary from insurance policy to policy, company to company, year to year, area to area, etc to etc. Just looking standard / common / normal (dealing with insurance companies that is probably almost impossible).

[LinuxRandal]

Is a GUST something OTHER than the constant velocity that a tornado is?

(intermediate damage, verse constant damaging barrage?)

[LCHIEN]

high winds usually blow down the one side of a house or take the roof off.
Even hurricane force wonds seldom exceed 150-175 mph (Cat 5)
Tornados have 200+ mph winds. However the chief damage is done by explosive decompression of the house - the drop in atmospheric pressure is tremendous and the rate far exceeds the ability of a house to equalize even through open doors and windows so the walls and roof literally explode outwards.

However you can almost alwayts tell a tornado too by the swath it leaves, seldom more than a 1/2 mile wide usually less than 1/4 mile wide and frequently will explode one house and leave one standing two doors down. High winds cover a large area.
I'm sure insurance companies prefer tornados, more intense damage but over a much more limited area.

[Tom Slick]

I used to live out in the high desert where high winds are normal and it didn't seem to be a big deal. they had enough 40-50 mph (20 mph was daily) on a regular basis that most loose things were blown away, 90mph just meant "stay inside till it goes away". they dealt with wind on a constant basis so everything was built with that in mind. even the trees grew leaning away from the wind with leaves only on the down wind side.

riding a motorcycle in the wind is an interesting experence.

[Uncle Cracker]

It may have something to do with the legal definition of a "windstorm". Also, houses built where high winds are a common occurrence are built (supposedly) to codes more suited to those conditions. This may have some effect on the classification of an "extraordinary" incident.

[Sam Conder]

Adele, a licensed insurance agent, says wind damage is wind damage in the eyes of the insurance companies regardles of the "source". In other words high wind damage = tornado damage.

[Daryl]

Adele, a licensed insurance agent, says wind damage is wind damage in the eyes of the insurance companies regardles of the "source". In other words high wind damage = tornado damage.

My policy simply says "Wind Damage".

[jonmulzer]

Adele, a licensed insurance agent, says wind damage is wind damage in the eyes of the insurance companies regardles of the "source". In other words high wind damage = tornado damage.

While I am sure she is right, we should not forget the debacle surrounding Hurricane Katrina when houses that were flooded because of hurricane storm surges were denied claims because they said it was caused by flood and not hurricanes. Insurance companies do not exist for the purposes of insuring your valuables. They exist to take as much of your money as they can while giving as little of it back as they can possibly manage.

[LCHIEN]

... Insurance companies do not exist for the purposes of insuring your valuables. They exist to take as much of your money as they can while giving as little of it back as they can possibly manage.

ain't that the truth

[TheRic]

Thanks Adele.

Then it sounds like it's more for bragging rights, or to make the story better. "A tornado damaged the roof". sounds more impressive than "High winds damaged the roof".

[JR]

We don't spend a lot of time in CA talking about tornadoes vs other wind events.

When I lived in St. Louis, though, it was entirely different. St. Louis leads the planet in tornado sightings, a fact about which they are very sensitive. Accordingly the evening news was filled with weather events such as "wall cloud", "bubble cloud", "highly unstable winds", "shear event". Bascially they'd call it anything rather than admit it was a tornado!

JR