Disaster preparedness: What you need to know about insurance

Sept. 21--Ron Kester leaned back in a chair on a porch situated behind his Camarillo Springs home, enjoying the area's relaxing ambiance.

The back of his Camarillo home offers a sweeping view of the surrounding community, while the front is nestled near the scenic base of the Santa Monica Mountains, where pockets of vegetation were slowly growing back.

About three years ago, Kester's house was little more than rubble. The 68-year-old retiree's home was hit by a rockslide that decimated several homes in the Camarillo Springs area in December 2014. Kester's house was buried in rock and mud, and many of his family's belongings were lost.

"We were evacuating at 2 a.m. and it was a difficult and scary experience," Kester said. "About 2 feet of mud and 3 feet of water came down the mountain and burst into the house, flooding it to about the 5-foot level. We watched our furniture float around the water. ... We lost almost all contents in the house and the home was uninhabitable."

Today, the only trace of the damage is in a few scuffed chairs and several old photographs. Thanks to his insurance, Kester was able to rebuild his house and replace most of the possessions lost in the rockslide. In the interim, their insurance plan allowed Kester and his wife to rent a small condominium in Thousand Oaks before rebuilding and moving back into their Camarillo home in August 2016.

If not for their homeowners and flood insurance, the cost of rebuilding would have been financially crippling, if not impossible, Kester said.

"We paid $475 for a year of FEMA insurance and our benefit was over $200,000," Kester said. "For our State Farm insurance, we paid about $1,200 a year and the benefit was over $175,000. Without insurance, it would have taken all of our savings and we would have had to empty all of our retirement accounts to come up with the cash to rebuild."

Given recent disasters such as Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma and Tuesday's major earthquake in Mexico, local insurance agents stressed that's it's crucial for Ventura County homeowners and tenants to keep on top of their insurance policies and be conscious of what their plans actually cover. That message is brought home by public safety officials who have deemed September as National Disaster Preparedness Month.

Although housing insurance can be a financially invaluable, it can be complicated for individuals to figure out what kind of insurance policies best suit their needs. Due to the wide variety of available insurance plans and personal factors such as an individual's location, income level and number of possessions, experts agreed that no matter the scope of coverage or cost, it was impossible to recommend a single type of general insurance policy to people.

The best way for residents to figure out what kind of insurance policy is to schedule an appointment with a local insurance agent, according to John Udy, president of the Camarillo-based Gimlin & Udy Insurance Agency, Inc. Udy noted that even though insurance policies might seem complicated and even mundane, meeting with an insurance agent could help answer questions people might have about insurance policies.

While the complexity of acquiring proper insurance can discourage residents from taking an active role in getting insurance for their homes and possessions, scheduling even a quick meeting with an insurance agent to learn about options could make all the difference, according to Udy.

"If you're comfortable playing that kind of risk where you don't have insurance to recover, try to imagine yourselves in the shoes of people in the news who are affected by these disasters," Udy said. "When you see the pictures of neighborhoods where fire indiscriminately burns houses and how the devastation is complete and total, it's a very easy decision to make at that point. We want to talk about the risks that are out there and people should at least have a discussion with their agent."

Some of the more common insurance questions include earthquake and flood coverage, which are not covered by standard homeowners and renters insurance policies, Udy said. For example, earthquake insurance is available separately and can be purchased from private insurers or the publicly-managed California Earthquake Authority. Though the National Flood Insurance Program is offered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), it cannot be purchased directly from the program and must be acquired through an insurer or agent that participates in the NFIP.

Although Ventura County has not been victim of a natural disaster as severe as Hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma, recent incidents such as the 2013 Springs Fire -- which resulted in the following year's rockslide that severely damaged several Camarillo Springs homes -- are examples of how even comparably small natural disasters could have a significant impact on county residents.

John Fraser, a senior management analyst for the city of Camarillo, argued that the Springs Fire could've been far worse if the winds had blown the actual fire toward the Camarillo Springs community and noted one disaster could often escalate into another.

"The heat from the Springs Fire was so intense near Camarillo Springs that it crystalized the ground and killed off root structures, which caused a rockslide," Fraser said. "There were at least a dozen homes buried up to the rooflines in rocks, which was a direct result of the fire. It's a progression of disasters that can have a big effect."

Udy agreed that natural disasters are unpredictable and that individuals often assume they will never be impacted by crises such as fires or floods until it happens to them. Therefore, one of the best ways to prepare would be with strong insurance policies, he said.

Read more:

* Ventura County residents urged to plan ahead, be prepared in case disaster strikes

* What if an 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit California?

* Are you prepared for a disaster?

Regardless its potential payoffs, cost is another issue that can cause residents to be reluctant to purchase or maintain their insurance policies, according to Salena Maloney-Bracamontes, a Ventura-based State Farm insurance agent. Due to Ventura County's expensive housing market and lagging growth of high-paying jobs, some experts noted that residents might believe that insurance wasn't worth the investment.

Still, Maloney-Bracamontes argued that insurance policies could be deceptively affordable and that the wide variety of available policies means that homeowners and renters alike could likely discover a plan that would suit them and could pay off in dividends.

"Some people aren't aware what insurance is available to them and how affordable it can be," Maloney-Bracamontes said. "I tell my clients to sit with me once per year and have a conversation with me about what kind of coverage they have. Whoever your agent is, you want to make sure that you have the coverage you need."

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