Natural disasters are becoming increasingly common and unpredictable. From hurricanes to wildfires, floods to earthquakes, Mother Nature can cause damage to homes and properties. As a homeowner, you might wonder if your standard home insurance policy is enough to protect you when disaster strikes. Spoiler alert: it might not be.

Here's the reality: most standard home insurance policies cover certain natural events like windstorms or hail damage, but they often exclude some of the most devastating disasters like floods and earthquakes. If you live in an area prone to these events—or are concerned about their growing unpredictability—now is the time to consider adding extra coverage.

What's Covered Under Standard Home Insurance?

A typical home insurance policy might protect your property from damage by fire, theft, vandalism or even certain types of storms. However, the key word here is "certain." While windstorms may be included, floods and earthquakes are often excluded, and if you live in a disaster-prone area, this exclusion could leave you facing huge out-of-pocket costs.

What About Floods?

Flooding is a very common and costly natural disaster in the U.S. Just a single inch of water can cause significant damage, often totaling thousands of dollars in repairs. However, most standard policies do not cover floods. You might think, "I don't live near a river, so I'm safe." But flash floods, urban flooding, and even storm surges can occur unexpectedly.

Earthquake Coverage

If you're on the West Coast or near fault lines, earthquake coverage is another crucial add-on to your policy. Like floods, earthquakes aren't typically included in standard home insurance policies. Given the potential for catastrophic damage, earthquake insurance can provide peace of mind, covering structural repairs, personal belongings, and sometimes even temporary living expenses.

Hurricanes and Wildfires

While wind damage might be covered for those living in hurricane-prone areas, you'll want to check your policy carefully. Some policies have high deductibles for windstorms, particularly in coastal areas. Additionally, damage caused by storm surges (a result of hurricanes) often falls under flood insurance, not your standard policy.

Wildfires are another growing concern, particularly in the western U.S. While many home insurance policies cover fire damage, coverage may be more expensive or limited in high-risk areas. If you live in a wildfire-prone region, speak with us to ensure you have the right coverage in place.

Unsure if you're fully protected? Contact us to review your policy and discuss additional coverage options. Whether it's a flood, earthquake or another type of disaster, knowing you're prepared is worth the peace of mind. Don't wait until it's too late—take steps today to safeguard your home and family against whatever Mother Nature may throw your way.

After all, it's better to be safe and covered than sorry.

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Cornerstone Agency Services, LLC Privacy Statement:

Introduction
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy. This policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit this website and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.
This Policy applies to information we collect:
• On this website.
• In email, text, and other electronic messages between you and this website.
• When you interact with our advertising and applications on third-party websites and services if those applications or advertising include links to this policy.
This Policy does not apply to information collected by:
• Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by us;
• Any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or on the website.
Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use our website. By accessing or using this website, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of this website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the policy periodically for updates.

Children Under the Age of 16
Our website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. No one under age 16 may provide any personal information on the website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on this website. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at the email address below.

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It
We collect several types of information from and about users of our website, including information:
• By which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, telephone number or any other identifier by which you may be contacted online or offline (”personal information”);
• That is about you but individually does not identify you;
• About your internet connection, the equipment you use to access our website, and usage details.
We collect this information:
• Directly from you when you provide it to us.
• Automatically as you navigate through the site. Information collected automatically may include usage details, IP addresses, and information collected through cookies, and other tracking technologies.
• From third parties, for example, our business partners.

Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect on or through our website may include:
• Information that you provide by filling in forms on our website. This includes information provided at the time of researching or licensing our product or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you enter a promotion sponsored by us, and when you report a problem with our website.
• Records and copies of your correspondence (including email addresses), if you contact us.
• Your responses to surveys that we might ask you to complete for research purposes.

Information We Collect Through Automatic Data Collection Technologies
As you navigate through and interact with our website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns, including:
• Details of your visits to our website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the website.
• Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type.
The information we collect automatically is only statistical data and does not include personal information. It helps us to improve our website and to deliver a better and more personalized service, including by enabling us to:
• Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
• Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our website according to your individual interests.
• Recognize you when you return to our website. The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include.
• Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. You may refuse to accept browser cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser. However, if you select this setting, you may be unable to access certain parts of our website. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our website.

How We Use Your Information
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information:
• To present our website and its contents to you.
• To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
• To fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
• To notify you about changes to our website or any products or services we offer or provide though it.

Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose personal information that we collect, or you provide as described in this privacy policy:
• To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you give us an email address to use the “Book A Demo” feature of our website, we will transmit the contents of that feature to vendor partners we work with to fulfill your request.
We may also disclose your personal information to comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
We do not rent or sell your personal information to any third parties.

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information
We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information:
Tracking Technologies and Advertising: You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent.
We do not control third parties’ collection or use of your information to serve interest-based advertising. However, these third parties may provide you with ways to choose not to have your information collected or used in this way. You can opt out of receiving targeted ads from members of the Network Advertising Initiative (”NAI”) on the NAI’s website. California residents may have additional personal information rights and choices. Please see the Section below: “Your California Privacy Rights” for more information.

Privacy Notice for California Residents
Effective Date: January 2022 Last Reviewed on: January 2024

This Privacy Notice for California Residents applies solely to all visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California (”consumers” or “you”). We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice.
Information We Collect
Our website collects information that identifies, relates to, describes, references, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or device (”personal information”). In particular, our website has collected the following categories of personal information from its consumers within the last twelve (12) months:
Category A: Identifiers
Examples: A real name, Internet Protocol address, email address, or other similar identifiers.
Collected: YES

Category B: Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)).

Examples: A name, signature, Social Security number, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, passport number, driver’s license or state identification card number, insurance policy number, education, employment, employment history, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, or any other financial information, medical information, or health insurance information. Some personal information included in this category may overlap with other categories.
Collected: No

Category C: Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law.
Examples: Age (40 years or older), race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, religion or creed, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, veteran or military status, genetic information (including familial genetic information).
Collected: No

Personal information does not include:
• Publicly available information from government records.
• De-identified or aggregated consumer information.
• Information excluded from the CCPA’s scope, like:
• Health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;
• Personal information is covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

We obtain the categories of personal information listed above from the following categories of sources:
• Directly from you. For example, from forms you complete on our website.
• Indirectly from you. For example, from observing your actions on our website or interactions with our advertisers.

Use of Personal Information
We may use, or disclose the personal information we collect for one or more of the following business purposes:
• To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information. For example, if you share your name and contact information to request a demo of our product or ask a question about our products or services, we will use that personal information to respond to your inquiry. If you provide your personal information to purchase a product or service, we will use that information to process your payment and facilitate delivery. We may also save your information to facilitate product enhancements or process refunds.
• To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses.
• To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
• As described to you when collecting your personal information or as otherwise set forth in the CCPA.
We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

Sharing Personal Information
We do not sell your personal information to any third parties, We may disclose your personal information to a third party for business purposes. When We disclose personal information for a business purpose, we enter a contract that describes the purpose and requires the recipient to both keep that personal information confidential and not use it for any purpose except performing the contract. The CCPA prohibits third parties which receive disclosed personal information from reselling it unless you have received explicit notice and an opportunity to opt out of further sales.

We share your personal information with the following categories of third parties:
• Disclosures of Personal Information for a Business Purpose
In the preceding twelve (12) months, Company has not disclosed personal information for a business purpose.
• Sales of Personal Information
In the preceding twelve (12) months, Company had not sold personal information.

Your Rights and Choices
The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their personal information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights
You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:
• The categories of personal information we collected about you.
• The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
• Our business or commercial purpose is for collecting or selling that personal information.
• The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
• The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request);
• If we sold or disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:
• Sales, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and
• Disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.

Deletion Request Rights
You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.
We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:
• Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
• Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
• Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.);
• Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
• Comply with a legal obligation.
• Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights
To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by sending us a message on our website. Only you, or a person registered with the California Secretary of State that you authorize to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child.
You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:
• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative.
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

Response Timing and Format
We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance, specifically by electronic mail communication.
We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

Personal Information Sales Opt-Out and Opt-In Rights
If you are 16 years of age or older, you have the right to direct us to not sell your personal information at any time (the “right to opt-out”). We do not sell the personal information of consumers we actually know are less than 16 years of age, unless we receive affirmative authorization (the “right to opt-in”) from either the consumer who is between 13 and 16 years of age, or the parent or guardian of a consumer less than 13 years of age. Consumers who opt-in to personal information sales may opt-out of future sales at any time. To exercise the right to opt-out, you (or your authorized representative) may submit a request to us by visiting the following our webpage and sending us a message.

Once you make an opt-out request, we will wait at least twelve (12) months before asking you to reauthorize personal information sales. However, you may change your mind and opt back in to receive personal information sales at any time by visiting our website and sending us a message. We will only use personal information provided in an opt-out request to review and comply with the request.

Non-Discrimination
We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:
• Deny you goods or services.
• Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
• Provide you with a different level or quality of goods or services.

• Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

However, we may offer you certain financial incentives permitted by the CCPA that can result in different prices, rates, or quality levels. Any CCPA-permitted financial incentive we offer will reasonably relate to your personal information’s value and contain written terms that describe the program’s material aspects. Participation in a financial incentive program requires your prior opt in consent, which you may revoke at any time.

California’s “Shine the Light” law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our website that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send us an electronic message through our website or write us at our address listed on our webpage.

Notice to European Users
This Site and the products and services on this Site are targeted for users in the United States of America. Any information you enter on this Site may be transferred outside of the European Union to the United States of America which does not offer an equivalent level of protection to that required in the European Union. In particular, you are advised that the United States of America uses a sectoral model of privacy protection that relies on a mix of legislation, governmental regulation, and self-regulation. Article 26 of the European Union’s Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC, 1995 O.J. (L 281) 31) allows for transfer of personal data from the European Union to a third country if the individual has unambiguously given his consent to the transfer of personal information, regardless of the third country’s level of protection. By using this Site or the services, you consent to the transfer of all such information to the United States of America which may not offer an equivalent level of protection to that required in the European Union and to the processing of that information by the Company on its servers located in the United States of America as described in this Privacy Policy.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at our discretion and at any time. When we make changes to this privacy notice, we will post the updated notice on the website and update the notice’s effective date. Your continued use of our website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our website and this privacy policy to check for any changes.

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Do You Need Extra Coverage for Natural Disasters?