What to Do Immediately After Your Home Takes Storm Damage

Storms in Upstate South Carolina can move fast and hit hard. Hail, straight-line winds, and falling trees can damage your roof, siding, gutters, and windows in a matter of minutes. What you do in the hours and days that follow has a real impact on both your safety and the outcome of your insurance claim.

Here's a practical, step-by-step guide for what to do after storm damage.

Step 1: Make Sure It's Safe First

Before you do anything else, make sure your home is structurally safe to enter. If you see significant structural damage — a tree through the roof, a collapsed wall, visible damage to load-bearing elements — stay out and call your local fire department or building inspection office for a safety assessment.

Look for downed power lines near or touching your home. Don't approach them under any circumstances. Call your utility company immediately.

Step 2: Document Everything Before Touching Anything

Before you start cleaning up, take photos and video of all visible damage — inside and outside. Get photos of:

• The exterior of the roof from multiple angles
• Any damaged or missing shingles, siding, or gutters
• Windows and doors
• Interior water intrusion — wet ceilings, walls, flooring
• Any personal property that was damaged

Step 3: Prevent Further Damage (But Don't Do Major Repairs Yet)

Your insurance policy likely requires you to take reasonable steps to prevent additional damage to your home after a loss. This typically means:

• Covering exposed areas with tarps if it's safe to do so, or calling a contractor who can do it safely
• Placing buckets or towels to catch dripping water inside
• Boarding up broken windows

What you should not do is undertake full repairs before your insurance adjuster has seen the damage. Doing so could complicate your claim. Temporary protective measures are standard practice — permanent repairs before inspection are not.

Step 4: Call a Roofer Before You Call Your Insurance Company

This might seem counterintuitive, but getting a professional inspection before you file your claim puts you in a much stronger position. A qualified roofer can:

• Identify damage that isn't visible from the ground
• Document it thoroughly with photos and a written assessment
• Help you understand what's covered and what to expect from the claims process
• Serve as an advocate when the adjuster comes out

Insurance adjusters are professionals doing their job, but their job is also to assess claims within the guidelines of your policy. Having your own independent documentation puts you on equal footing.

Step 5: File Your Claim

Contact your homeowner's insurance company to file a claim. Have ready:

• Your policy number
• The date of the storm
• A description of the damage
• Your photo and video documentation
• The contractor's written assessment if you have one

Your insurer will assign an adjuster to your claim. Ask when they expect to visit and whether you can have your contractor present during the inspection — most insurers allow this, and having your roofer there to point out damage items is genuinely helpful.

Step 6: Get a Written Estimate from Your Contractor

Once the adjuster has done their inspection, compare their assessment to your contractor's. If there are significant discrepancies — items the adjuster didn't include or repair costs that seem off — you have the right to request a re-inspection or work with a public adjuster to dispute the claim.

A Note on Hail Damage

Hail damage is one of the most commonly missed and most commonly disputed types of storm damage. The impacts may not cause immediate leaks, but they damage the protective granule coating on asphalt shingles, dramatically shortening the roof's remaining lifespan. An adjuster may not flag hail damage as significant if it isn't immediately causing leaks — but a roofing contractor who knows what to look for will document the pattern impact marks that tell a different story.

If there's been a hail storm in your area, it's worth having your roof inspected even if you don't see obvious damage from the ground.