Filing business insurance claims after a hurricane or wildfire

After a hurricane or wildfire, report the loss at once, keep the property from getting worse and document everything before you clean up. Then sort the damage by cause, because wind, flood, fire and smoke can sit under different policies with different deductibles and different deadlines. Expect delays: catastrophe claims arrive in thousands, adjusters are stretched and the causation arguments are harder than in an ordinary fire or water loss.

This guide is the sequence for a disaster. The ordinary mechanics of an adjuster visit, an estimate and a payment are in the commercial property claim process, step by step.

The first 72 hours

1. Safety first, property second. Do not enter a building until officials clear it. Flood water can be electrified or contaminated, and fire-damaged structures can collapse.
2. Photograph and video before you touch anything. Capture each room, the roof, the equipment, the stock and the water line or soot pattern, then close-ups of damaged items with labels or serial numbers. Date-stamp the files and back them up off site.
3. Report the loss right away. Call your broker and the carrier's claim line, and use the app or web form too. Get a claim number. If your phone, power or internet is down, send a written notice as soon as you can and note why it was delayed. If you have a separate flood policy, a boiler or equipment breakdown policy or a commercial auto policy for flooded vehicles, report to each.
4. Protect the property. The ISO commercial property form (CP 00 10 10 12) requires you to take all reasonable steps to protect covered property from further damage and to keep a record of your expenses for consideration in settling the claim. Board up openings, tarp the roof, pump out water and move salvageable stock. Keep every receipt, and ask the adjuster before large temporary repairs if you can reach one. The form adds that these expenses do not increase the limit of insurance, so do what is reasonable rather than what is elaborate.
5. Keep damaged items until the adjuster has seen them, unless they are a hazard. Photograph and list what you discard. Spoiled perishables are the usual exception; see spoilage coverage for refrigeration breakdown and power outage.
6. Start a claim log of each call: date, person, what was said, what was promised.

Match the loss to the coverage

One storm can create five claims. Check each against the policy that might respond.

Hurricanes: the wind-versus-water fight

The most litigated question after a hurricane is what damaged the building. Wind and wind-driven rain are covered perils under most commercial property forms. Flood, surface water and storm surge are excluded from the ISO special causes of loss form (CP 10 30) and from most carrier forms, and are covered only by a flood policy. The special form also contains anti-concurrent causation wording: loss excluded "regardless of any other cause or event that contributes concurrently or in any sequence" to it. See anti-concurrent causation clauses: when one excluded cause sinks a claim. Where wind and water both damaged a building, who pays for what depends on policy wording and state law, so get engineering evidence early on the sequence of damage.

Three practical points:

• Name the deductible. A named storm deductible is a percentage of insured value, often 1% to 10%, and may be applied location by location or across the schedule. Know the number before the adjuster gives you one.
• Rain intrusion has conditions. Many forms pay for interior rain damage only if the storm first damaged the roof or walls through which the rain entered. Photograph the opening.
• Flood has its own clock. The NFIP's non-residential limits are $500,000 for the building and $500,000 for contents (FEMA FloodSmart). The policy generally takes effect 30 days after purchase (with limited exceptions), the General Property Form excludes business income, and a sworn proof of loss is due within 60 days of the loss, with suit barred after one year from written denial. Ask the NFIP carrier whether a deadline extension was announced for your event. NFIP authorization currently runs to December 11, 2026 (FEMA); a lapse stops new and renewal sales but does not stop payment of valid claims. See also hurricane season and commercial property insurance: what to do before a storm.

Wildfires: total losses, smoke and evacuations

Fire is a basic covered cause of loss, so a burned building is mostly a claim about valuation and speed. The harder wildfire disputes sit at the edges.

• Smoke, soot and ash. A building left standing can have contamination that cannot be seen. California's Department of Insurance convened a Smoke Claims and Remediation Task Force after the January 2025 Los Angeles fires. Its March 9, 2026 report, which concerned residential property, described disagreement over how much testing is needed, inconsistent claim handling and a lack of uniform standards for sampling and remediation. The same fight arises in warehouses, restaurants and offices. Ask for an independent industrial hygienist's assessment, and expect to document why surface cleaning is not enough.
• Evacuation orders. Under the ISO business income form (CP 00 30 10 12), civil authority coverage applies when a covered cause of loss damages property other than yours, and a civil authority prohibits access to an area that includes your premises within one mile of that damage. Business income coverage begins 72 hours after the first order and runs up to four consecutive weeks. Extra expense starts immediately. A voluntary closure, or an evacuation with no damage nearby, does not trigger it.
• Rebuild costs and codes. Rebuilding after a regional fire runs into permit delays, new building codes and demand surge. Check that you carry ordinance-or-law coverage and ask early about the limit.
• Residual markets. If you are in a FAIR Plan, remember the plan's coverage is narrower. California's commercial limits were raised to $20 million per building and $100 million per location in March 2025, and many insureds pair it with a difference-in-conditions policy; see FAIR Plans and residual markets for commercial property and California.

For scale, the California Department of Insurance's wildfire claims tracker, updated July 6, 2026, shows 41,727 claims filed and $25.2 billion paid to date for the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, across homes, businesses and autos. The department's task force report put payments above $22 billion in November 2025, so totals kept growing as claims matured.

A hypothetical wildfire example

Say a restaurant sits half a mile from a burned strip mall. Officials order an evacuation that lasts 40 days. The restaurant's building is unharmed, and its net income plus continuing expenses, as the policy measures them, average $6,000 a day. Under the standard civil authority wording, business income coverage starts 72 hours after the order and lasts up to four consecutive weeks. That is 28 days, or $168,000. The first three days (the waiting period) and the last nine days of the order are not covered, because the four-week limit ends first. Extra expense, such as moving perishable food to a rented cooler, is paid from the start. Endorsements can change both the waiting period and the length of coverage, which is why you read yours. The numbers are invented.

Business income and the long tail

Business income claims after a catastrophe are slower than the property claim. Keep payroll, sales and expense records, and file a request for advance payments on the undisputed part of the loss. Track the extended business income period after you reopen, because customers do not return on day one. If suppliers or customers closed, check contingent business interruption coverage. Document everything you do to resume operations, which the form requires, in the format described in documenting a business interruption claim, from day one to final payment.

Deadlines: the ones that cost you the claim

• Proof of loss. CP 00 10 requires a sworn proof of loss within 60 days after the insurer asks for it. The insurer must give notice of its intentions within 30 days after receiving it and pay within 30 days after that, if you have complied with the policy.
• Replacement cost. To claim replacement cost after an actual cash value payment, you must notify the insurer within 180 days after the loss of your intent to do so, under the ISO form.
• State claim-handling clocks. Texas Insurance Code sections 542.055 to 542.057 require an insurer to acknowledge a claim within 15 days (30 business days for an eligible surplus lines insurer), accept or reject it within 15 business days after receiving all required items and pay within five business days of accepting. Section 542.059 extends those deadlines by 15 days after a weather-related catastrophe or major natural disaster as defined by the commissioner, and late payment can carry interest. Florida's section 627.70132 bars a property insurance claim unless notice is given within one year of the date of loss (18 months for a supplemental claim), and it sets the date of loss for a hurricane as landfall or the date NOAA verifies. Whether a statute reaches your commercial policy depends on the policy and its terms; ask your broker or counsel. See Texas and Florida.
• Suit limitation. The two-year period in the ISO commercial property conditions can run from the date of loss. Do not let negotiation run it out.

Cash while you wait

• Request an advance. Ask the adjuster in writing for payment of the undisputed amount.
• SBA disaster loans. The SBA offers Business Physical Disaster Loans up to $2 million to repair or replace real property, equipment, inventory and leasehold improvements, and Economic Injury Disaster Loans for working capital, with a combined limit of $2 million. SBA says rates are fixed and capped at 4% for applicants who cannot get credit elsewhere, repayment can run up to 30 years and the first payment is deferred 12 months. SBA notes that insurance proceeds on business property may be deducted from the eligible loan amount (SBA disaster assistance).
• Tax relief. The IRS issues relief announcements for declared disasters that generally postpone filing and payment deadlines; talk to your CPA about casualty-loss treatment.

Contractors, scammers and public adjusters

Disasters draw door-to-door contractors and unlicensed adjusters. Do not pay large deposits up front, do not sign anything that assigns your claim, and verify licenses with the state. A public adjuster can help on a large claim, but fee caps and solicitation rules vary and some state protections are written for residential policies only. See disaster preparedness for small businesses: a practical checklist for what to do before the next event.

Key takeaways

• Photograph first, protect the property, keep receipts and report to every policy that might respond, including flood and business income.
• Sort the damage by cause: wind and fire go to the property policy, flood goes to a flood policy and smoke damage needs expert evidence.
• Civil authority under the standard form needs damage to other property, access prohibited within one mile, a 72-hour wait and runs up to four weeks.
• Calendar the 60-day proof of loss, the 180-day replacement cost notice, your state's claim clocks and the suit-limitation period.
• Ask for advance payments, look at SBA disaster loans, and hire a public adjuster or coverage counsel for large or disputed claims.