Conn. Updates Coastal Underwriting Guidelines
Connecticut insurance department amended its coastal underwriting guidelines last month to clarify when hurricane deductibles can be applied. Regulators have been working on making the changes in the wake of criticisms after Tropical Storm Irene. Revised guidelines say that National Weather Service must declare a hurricane and that the hurricane would need to hit the state, with sustained hurricane force winds recorded in the state, for a hurricane deductible to be applied.
Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit Connecticut last August. However, previous guidelines allowed carriers to apply hurricane deductibles if a hurricane warning was issued for the state in the preceding 24 hours before the storm system arrives at the state (even if it is no longer a hurricane by the time it arrives). Additionally, regulators now say that for new business over 2,600 feet of the coast, insurers have to choose between a windstorm deductible or windstorm shutter mitigation, and not both.
