With the Atlantic hurricane season underway, homeowners should be aware that inadequate insurance coverage can make recovering from a bad situation even worse. Whether damage from a storm comes from wind or water, homeowners whose coverage is insufficient have discovered the hard way that it makes recovery difficult and that their options for help are limited. "Some people believe they don't need [coverage], and then they experience an event and realize they can't afford the cost of repairs or rebuilding," said Brock Long, former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and now executive chairman at Hagerty Consulting, an emergency management consulting firm based in Evanston, Illinois.

A woman crosses a flooded street in 2015. Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

As temperatures rise and more moisture is held in the air, massive storms — some of which stall and dump torrential rainfall — have become more frequent in recent years. This has caused flooding in places that previously were unaccustomed to it. While most homeowners carry standard homeowners insurance, those policies typically have a hurricane deductible, and don't cover damage from flooding — which often causes the most damage. Separate flood insurance is available through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private carrier. Yet unless you're in a special designated flood zone, your lender likely doesn't require it. When a homeowner faces storm-related damage — regardless of the weather event — that is uncovered, there might be government programs that can provide financial assistance: FEMA grants and Small Business Administration loans. However, that help is not guaranteed, and it likely wouldn't get you quickly back on your feet.

For instance, after 2017's Hurricane Harvey, which dumped as much as 60 inches of rain in some spots in Texas, the average FEMA grant for individuals was $7,000, while the average claim through the National Flood Insurance Program was more than $100,000. "FEMA can kickstart recovery, but it wasn't designed to make you whole," Long said. And, FEMA only gets involved when the weather event is declared a disaster area by the president. SBA loans also are only available in those situations. You can apply for up to $200,000 toward the cost of repairing or replacing your primary residence — vacation homes generally don't count.

Five costliest U.S. hurricanes on record Name Year Cost Katrina 2005 $161 billion Harvey 2017 $125 billion Maria 2017 $90 billion Sandy 2012 $71 billion Irma 2017 $50 billion

Remember, too, that you're expected to continue your mortgage payments after a disaster. That means an SBA loan would be an additional monthly obligation. "In that situation, you're essentially paying two mortgages for your home," Long said. The SBA sometimes will refinance part or all of an existing home loan, although that decision is made on a case-by-case basis. And, of course, a bank might be willing to lend you money to rebuild, in the form of a home-equity or construction loan. Nonprofit organizations also typically are on hand after disasters to provide assistance, ranging from the basics such as food and shelter to longer-term aid that can include housing — although a new home through a nonprofit is typically available only to very low-income residents.

If you go through a disaster and have a lot of uninsured losses, and you weren't financially stable to begin with, your ability to overcome that is very difficult. Brock Long Executive chairman at Hagerty Consulting and former FEMA administrator