Insurance in East Texas

Straight-line winds in a spring or fall thunderstorm can pass 100 miles an hour, and what they bring down is pine: in May 2017 a line of 85 to 95 mile-an-hour winds east of Longview dropped trees on homes and power lines, and two of the three people killed by tornadoes in Deep East Texas from 1990 to 2020 died when trees fell on mobile homes.

What to askAsk what the policy pays to remove a tree that falls on the house, the fence or the driveway, what it pays when the tree misses everything, and whether wind damage to the trees themselves is covered at all; most policies exclude it.

Heavy rain floods the Sabine and Neches bottoms; the March 2016 flood set the record on the Sabine.

What to askHomeowners insurance generally does not cover flooding, and the river bottoms fill from rain that fell a hundred miles upstream, so ask about a separate flood policy for a home near a river, a creek or a lake.

Learn about flood insurance.

In the drought of 2011 the Bearing fire burned more than 23,000 acres of Trinity and Polk counties, and the drought itself killed about 300 million trees across the state.

What to askStanding dead trees near the house are both a wind hazard and fuel, and the Texas A&M Forest Service says to take them down, so ask whether the policy expects clearing around the house and how outbuildings, equipment and timber are covered.