If you added flood insurance to your homeowner’s policy, it will give you a definite leg up on the painstaking rebuilding process. Even so, this is not something you can totally hand off to your insurer and expect the carrier to rebuild everything back to the way it was or the way you want it. You still need to be hands-on in terms of regularly checking up on what your insurance company is doing to facilitate the ultimate recovery of your home.

• Contact your insurance agent as soon as possible after the disaster. Some insurers place a time limit on filing claims. What’s more depending on the severity of the damage, the time it takes to process your claim could vary widely, from almost immediately to almost six months.

• Inform the agent of the severity of the damage. These days insurance cases are prioritized; houses with the most severe damage will get more and quicker attention than residences with minor damage. Be sure to give your insurer all your contact information. You want them to be able to get through to you as easily as possible. The last thing you need is a delay in the reconstruction because the carrier can’t get through to you to sign off on the repair.

• If your residence is too damaged to be lived in safely, you’ll likely need to get a hotel room and live out of pocket. Insurance companies should cover reasonable living expenses, including meals (within reason). Spend what they give you as if it’s yours; in other words, modestly.

• Document everything! You are solely responsible for substantiating all of your losses. Make an inventory of what has been lost or broken; photograph everything as you found it. If you don’t remember or know the value of some of the lost or damaged merchandise, call your credit card company and ask for copies of the receipts of products you purchased through them. Also make note of everyone you talked to at the insurance company, FEMA and the local authorities. The more organized you are, the more smoothly the rebuilding will get done.

• One of the more beneficial advances in insurance technology is the Insurance Institute’s home inventory software. This free program lets you take pictures, scan receipts and take inventory of what you have in the house. In fact, if you’re reading this now, do yourself a favor and get that software now.
  

• Don’t make any major repairs on your own. If you can live at your residence, of course you should take action on anything that could jeopardize your safety. But for a leaky roof, for instance, you’d save yourself a lot of long-term grief by just collecting the leaks in pots than hiring a professional on your own to fix the roof.

• Don’t forget the tax angle. If you are currently underinsured, you may be able to deduct a sizable unreinbursed property loss. First, subtract any insurance you anticipate receiving from the cost to rebuild the property, then subtract $100. Reduce that number by 10 percent of your adjusted gross income; that leaves a balance that can be deducted from your taxes. To see if you qualify for this, round up all your receipts, insurance statements, and other documentation and bring it to your tax preparer.

• Look out for rip-off artists. Like moths to a flame, every major natural disaster attracts a bevy of flim-flam contractors and repairmen, looking for a quick and easy buck. Never be rushed into signing a work contract. Collect their business cards and get their written estimates for their work. Investigate their track records and contact their references. Never trust anyone who recommends spending considerable coin on a temporary repair, or who demands payment in full in advance.

• Protest your settlement. If you're not happy with how the claim is settled, don’t grit your teeth and accept it. Go right back to the agent, and document your side to the head of the claims department. If that doesn’t work to your satisfaction, file a complaint with your state insurance department. Last but not least, you can always hire an attorney.