The Alabama Department of Insurance in its forward thinking developed the Mitigation Resources Division within the department. This division fills a need
of working to provide resources and expertise to the insurance industry and consumers in the ever-expanding space of disaster mitigation and disaster
preparedness and response.
The Mitigation Resources Division is organized into 4 sections: The Strengthen Alabama Homes Program, Private Flood, Community Resilience and Disaster
Preparedness and Response.
In 2011, the Alabama State Legislature, through ACT 2011-643, established the Strengthen Alabama Homes Program designed to aid Alabama homeowners
improve their homes with updated building modifications, also known as wind retrofitting, that minimizes property loss due to hurricane or other
catastrophic windstorm events.
The Strengthen Alabama Homes Program adopted the FORTIFIED™ program as its retrofitting standard. The FORTIFIED™ program was developed by the
Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety and takes a systems approach to protecting homes from storm damage.
The Alabama Department of Insurance offer grant programs, subject to availability of funding, to assist wind retrofitting existing homes for qualified
homeowners. This creates the Mission of the Strengthen Alabama Homes Program to provide grants to homeowners in the most cost-effective manner for wind
retrofitting their homes against damage in order to improve community resiliency to weather events.
Strengthening your home against wind damage may qualify you for homeowner insurance wind premium discounts. The FORTIFIED standard must be met associated
with a grant from this program to take advantage of these discounts.
For more information about the Strengthen Alabama Homes Program, please visit our website at: https://strengthenalabamahomes.com/
For more information about the FORTIFIED standard, please visit https://ibhs.org.
Alabama recognizes the need for a private flood insurance market in Alabama. The Private Flood section of the Mitigation Resource Division
was created to promote the formation and growth of a vibrant private flood market in Alabama.
Our Community Resiliency section is tasked with working to assist communities in our state to develop policies, laws and perform education and outreach
to increase awareness to help build stronger communities; providing resources for communities to grow and thrive in a time of uncertainty when faced
with natural disasters.
With large natural disasters affecting so many people and bringing devastation to lives and property, it is important to be prepared to face such circumstances.
The Emergency preparedness and response section is responsible for ensuring the insurance industry is responding to disasters in Alabama and that claims are
being handled timely. This section also ensures that the Alabama Department of Insurance is prepared and is timely and efficient in its response to the citizens
of Alabama and the insurance industry in the event of a natural disaster.