During severe weather, your first concern should always be the safety of your family and pets. Once you know that everyone has made it through the storm, you can begin to look for signs of storm damage to your home. There are three primary types of storm damage you may encounter: water damage is usually the easiest to spot and the most difficult to repair. Hail and wind damage can be more subtle, especially on the roof.

Water Damage

Depending on the type and severity of the storm, water damage could be as dramatic as full-scale flooding or as relatively minor as a small leak in the roof. Water damage cleanup for a small leak is something most homeowners can do themselves. Place a bucket under the leak to prevent further water damage. Then dry the area thoroughly, using fans if possible. As long as you keep catching the water that drips through the roof, you won’t incur any additional water damage before you have the roof repaired.

If your home has been flooded, you need to call a professional water damage cleanup crew. This is a potentially hazardous situation that requires specific training to remediate. In a flood situation, parts of your home may be under water for hours or days before you can return to assess the damage. This is plenty of time for mold and harmful bacteria to grow. A water damage restoration team will dry the area, remove any mold or other hazardous materials, and restore your home to normal.

Hail and Wind Damage

Hail and wind can cause obvious damage to your home, especially to the roof. If you see shingles blown off your roof, that’s a good sign that you’ve had wind damage and need to call an experienced roofer to inspect the damage.

Hail damage is more difficult to see from the ground. If your car, backyard shed, or other objects have been damaged by large hail, it may be a good idea to have your roof inspected as well. Hail damage may not cause immediate problems, but it can shorten the lifespan of your roof significantly.

If you suspect that your home has sustained storm damage, call your homeowner’s insurance agent and take photographs of the damage immediately. Your insurance agent will let you know if there is anything you can do to minimize the damage, and will give you the name of a reputable water damage restoration company in your area.

About Vince Sandri

Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.