How to Recover Financially After Hurricane Ian

Here's your quick guide to putting your life back together after the storm.

Hurricane Ian has already been flagged as one of the most powerful storms to hit Florida and the U.S. as a whole. At this point, Florida homeowners may be in the process of assessing the damage caused by Ian and figuring out how they'll recover from it. If you're in that boat, here are some key steps to take.

1. Contact your homeowners insurance company

If your home has sustained damage in the wake of the storm, one of the first calls you make should be to your homeowners insurance company. You'll need to let your insurer know what sort of damage you're looking at and ask what next steps to take. Your insurer might ask you to take pictures of your home or wait for a claims adjuster to come out before attempting to fix any damage.

If the damage to your home is severe, you might need to seek out temporary housing until repairs can be made. Be sure to ask your insurance company if those costs are covered under your policy.

2. Apply for disaster assistance

Even if your homeowners insurance company will pick up the tab for the damage to your home, you might face some near-term expenses, such as having to pay for a hotel or having to incur other costs to continue functioning. And so it pays to see if you're eligible for disaster assistance.

One good place to start is DisasterAssistance.gov. There, you can enter your ZIP code and see what aid you're eligible for -- and apply through the site. You can also see if you're eligible for aid through FEMA.

3. Replace damaged or lost credit cards

If you can't seem to find one of your credit cards in the course of cleaning up after the storm, it's important that you contact your credit card issuer right away. If you explain that you're in a tough spot because your home has been damaged in a storm, your credit card company might be willing to expedite your replacement card so you can start using it immediately. It might also be able to move your recurring bills over to your new card automatically so you don't have to take that step.

4. Ask for a break on paying the mortgage if you need one

In the wake of the storm, you may be grappling with a host of expenses that make it difficult to keep up with your mortgage payments. In that situation, it pays to contact your loan servicer and see if it's possible to pause your mortgage payments temporarily until you're back on your feet.

5. Make a list of damaged or missing financial documents

If you didn't have time to prepare for the hurricane, you may not have had an opportunity to store essential financial documents in a secure place, like a home safe or safe deposit box at your bank. Take some time to figure out which important documents are missing. From there, you can make a list and try to replace them one at a time.

You may, for example, be missing your most recent tax return. You can see if your tax preparer has a copy on file or otherwise contact the IRS for details on how to replace it.

Recovering financially after a storm can be a process, so give yourself grace as you go through the motions. It may take some time to get your life back in order, so do your best to practice self care as you put the pieces back together.