Disaster insurance: Homeowners, hurricanes and Katrina five years later.

Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf coast almost five years ago. The disaster destroyed homes and lives and rocked the nation. Home insurance companies paid billions in claims.

The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) has created a white paper that highlights some of the lessons from Katrina and analyzes ways insurers, communities and homeowners can reduce the impact of future hurricane disasters. The goal is to lower the financial impact to insurance companies which should translate to lower home insurance costs.

Of course this is a benefit to the insurers, but reducing risk should benefit consumers as well. For example, Florida home insurance rates are notoriously high, and sometimes it’s difficult for some property owners in that state to find coverage. Hurricanes, wildfires and floods have spooked many insurers.

Some of the lessons from PCI’s white paper include:

• The need to encourage communities and homeowners to find ways to reduce hurricane damage risk.
• Insurers have found better ways to communicate in the aftermath of a disaster, including using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, plus satellite technology.
• Insurers have found better ways to reduce disruptions of service, such as deploying mobile command centers.
• More homeowners in hurricane-risk areas need to be educated about the importance of having flood insurance. Many homeowners may not realize that their policies don’t cover flood. Flood insurance is a special government program.
• The need to improve how to understand risks in disaster-prone areas.

In the meantime, many home owners in Gulf and Atlantic coast states have seen a rise in property insurance premiums. Even if their options are limited, it’s still advisable to periodically check to see if they can lower their costs by getting home insurance comparison quotes.

You should get at least three quotes for a good comparison, and talk to your agent or investigate flood insurance if you don’t have it.