When does a hurricane or named-storm deductible apply in New England?
It depends on the state, and the three southern New England states set three different triggers. Connecticut requires a hurricane warning for the state and sustained winds of 74 miles per hour measured somewhere in it. Rhode Island requires a hurricane warning and caps the deductible at 5% by statute. Massachusetts has no statute; on the FAIR Plan a named tropical storm plus a watch is enough, from twelve hours before the watch to twelve hours after it ends.
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The detail
Connecticut’s deductible may apply only “during the period commencing with the issuance of a hurricane warning by the National Hurricane Center of the National Weather Service in any part of the state if such hurricane results in a maximum sustained surface wind of seventy-four miles per hour or more for any part of this state”, ending twenty-four hours after the last warning is lifted or the storm is downgraded, whichever is earlier.
Sandy in 2012 did not meet the Connecticut test. The Governor’s office announced that “companies may not impose a hurricane deductible on Connecticut claims” because the law “requires that a hurricane warning be issued for Connecticut and that the National Weather Service record sustained hurricane force winds of at least 74 miles per hour”.
In Connecticut, “Windstorm or hail deductibles may not be mandated by insurers”, and “Hurricane deductibles may only be applied under specific circumstances related to the storm.” A 2000 bulletin requires the declarations page to show the deductible in dollars as well as a percentage, because “Some consumers may not understand that the deductible is a percentage of the dwelling limit and not a percentage of the loss amount.”
Connecticut Insurance Department, Homeowners Storm Claims (2025) and Bulletin PC-33 (2000)
Rhode Island’s deductible applies from the issuance of a hurricane warning for any part of the state until twenty-four hours after the last warning ends, or when a hurricane produces hurricane-force sustained winds as reported by the National Weather Service; it “shall not exceed five percent (5%) of the insured value”, may be applied only once per calendar year, and must be waived for approved mitigation measures.
Rhode Island’s regulation defines a hurricane as “a weather-related event for which the National Weather Service has issued a hurricane warning for the applicable part of Rhode Island”, caps the deductible at 5% of Coverage A, and states that “Windstorm deductibles may not be included in residential property insurance policies.”
Massachusetts has no statute or regulation setting a trigger or cap for voluntary carriers. The Division of Insurance says some policies carry “a special deductible for losses caused by named storms, like hurricanes, or for wind”, applied “only when a named storm or wind causes damage”, and that percentages “generally range from 1% to 5% of the value of the insured home”.
On the Massachusetts FAIR Plan a named storm is “a hurricane or tropical storm given a name by the National Hurricane Center or the Weather Prediction Center”, and the deductible runs from twelve hours before a watch or warning is issued for any part of Massachusetts until twelve hours after it is lifted, effective 1 August 2018.
Massachusetts Division of Insurance, Docket R2017-02, order of 11 May 2018
New York took the same line as Connecticut on Sandy: the Department of Financial Services told insurers that “hurricane deductibles should not be triggered for this storm” because Sandy “did not have sustained hurricane-force winds when it made land in New York”. New Jersey’s Governor ordered the same by executive order, noting the National Weather Service had categorized Sandy as a post-tropical storm before landfall.
New York DFS, 1 November 2012; New Jersey Executive Order No. 107, 2 November 2012
What this means for you
- Three words, three different deductibles. A hurricane deductible needs a hurricane warning, and in Connecticut measured hurricane winds too. A named-storm deductible needs only a name, and a tropical storm has one. A windstorm deductible needs nothing but wind, which is why Rhode Island bans it on residential policies and Connecticut will not let it be mandated. Read which of the three your policy carries before reading the percentage.
- Sandy is the worked example. It arrived as a post-tropical storm with no hurricane warning north of Long Island. Connecticut, New York and New Jersey all barred the hurricane deductible. A Massachusetts policy with a named-storm deductible would have applied it, because Sandy had a name, and the FAIR Plan’s own rule now says so in terms.
- The percentage is of the building limit, not the loss. Connecticut’s regulator has been repeating this since 2000. A 5% deductible on a $600,000 house is $30,000 whether the storm took a fence or the roof, and the declarations page in Connecticut must show the dollar figure for that reason.
- Rhode Island pays you to mitigate. The statute requires the deductible to be waived for approved windstorm mitigation, and the FAIR Plan’s table shows the same shutters cutting 5% to 2%. On the Massachusetts and Connecticut plans mitigation moves the underwriting rather than the deductible.
- Once a year, in one state. Rhode Island applies the deductible once per calendar year to all hurricane losses. A back-to-back season on the Connecticut or Massachusetts shore can mean the deductible twice. Ask.
- The trigger is written into the policy, so read the policy. The statutes set the outer limit of what a carrier may do. What your carrier actually does is in the deductible endorsement, and a voluntary-market Massachusetts policy can define a named storm more narrowly than the FAIR Plan does. The declarations page names the endorsement; ask for it.
Related questions
- Can my carrier add a hurricane deductible at renewal?
In Connecticut and Rhode Island it can, within the statutory trigger and, in Rhode Island, the 5% cap, and it must disclose it. In Massachusetts there is no statutory constraint on voluntary carriers, so the renewal notice is the only warning. A deductible that appears at renewal is a reason to re-market, and the hurricane deductible is a line item carriers compete on for coastal business.
- Does a commercial property policy work the same way?
The statutes and regulations above are written for residential property. Commercial policies carry windstorm, named-storm and hurricane deductibles by endorsement, with triggers the carrier drafts, and they are not bound by the residential caps or the windstorm ban. A coastal commercial building should have its wind deductible read as carefully as its limit, and the general guide sets out how the commercial forms work.
- Wind, hail and hurricane deductibles on commercial property
- What about the Cape and the Islands specifically?
On the Massachusetts FAIR Plan every homeowners policy in Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket Counties carries a mandatory percentage named-storm deductible, at 2% or 5% depending on the building limit, and so does any property within half a mile of the coast elsewhere in the state. Voluntary carriers that still write the Cape generally follow with their own named-storm deductibles.
- The Massachusetts FAIR Plan, including the Cape and Islands tables
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Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-09-06. See all guides.