Hawaii's coral reefs are getting fast repair money from a reef insurance policy after two hurricanes this season, good news for the islands' coastlines, tourism, and fishing.

• The Nature Conservancy's reef insurance paid out half a million dollars combined after Hurricanes Lala and Lowell.
• Payouts trigger automatically based on storm wind speed and how close it passed to the islands, not on a damage inspection.
• The policy is paid for by private donations, not taxpayers, and can pay up to $1 million per storm with a $2 million cap.
• The guaranteed money lets crews reattach broken corals within the 4-to-8-week window before they die, instead of waiting for funding.
• Crews recently reattached over 200 corals in a single day along the Big Island coast.

Outlook: Reefs block most wave energy and support over a billion dollars a year in tourism, so repairs now should strengthen Hawaii's storm defenses before the next hurricane.