Storm Damage: What to Do in the First 48 Hours

Last Updated: August 3, 2026

The hours after a storm are a bad time to make decisions. There is adrenaline, a mess that feels urgent, and — within a day in most affected neighborhoods — strangers at the door offering to fix it all right now.

The order below is what keeps people safe and keeps their claim intact. It is worth reading before you need it, because the mistakes that cost the most all happen in the first 48 hours: cleaning up before photographing, signing something on a doorstep, or paying a deposit to someone who will not be in the state next week.

First: is it safe to be here

Nothing in this article matters more than this section, and none of it is worth a risk taken in the first hour.

• Downed power lines. Assume live. Stay well back, keep others back, and call the utility. A line that is not arcing is not a safe line.
• Standing water. Do not walk into it if it is anywhere near outlets, appliances or the panel. If water has reached the electrical panel, have the power cut before anyone goes in.
• A smell of gas. Leave immediately, do not touch switches, and call the gas company from outside.
• Structural signs. A tree resting on the roof, a sagging ceiling, a leaning wall, a bulging bay of siding. Stay out and get eyes on it from a distance until someone qualified says otherwise.
• Generators. Outside only, well away from doors and windows. Carbon monoxide poisoning kills people after storms every single year, usually indoors or in an attached garage.

Document before you touch anything

Once it is safe, the camera comes out before the broom. This is the step people skip in the rush to tidy, and it is the one that decides how the claim goes.

1. Video first, one continuous walk. Outside and in, narrating what you are looking at. It captures context that individual photos miss.
2. Then stills, wide and close. Every affected area from several angles: the whole elevation, then the specific damage. Include the ground, where hail and debris evidence sits.
3. Photograph damaged contents individually, with model or serial numbers where you can see them.
4. Do not throw anything away yet. Move ruined items out of the way, but keep them until the adjuster has been or has told you otherwise.
5. Keep every receipt from here on: tarps, a hotel room, a dehumidifier rental, the emergency call-out. Several of these may be reimbursable, and only with proof.

Stop it getting worse

Insurers generally expect you to limit the damage rather than watch it spread — and a roof left open for a week turns a roof claim into a roof, ceiling, insulation and flooring claim.

Reasonable steps are things like tarping a roof, boarding a broken window, moving furniture out of a wet room, getting water extracted and air movers running, and clearing a blocked drain that is backing up. Photograph the damage before the temporary fix and the fix afterwards, and keep the receipts.

The line to hold: temporary yes, permanent no. Do not have a roof replaced, a ceiling reboarded or flooring relaid before the adjuster has assessed it and the scope is agreed. Permanent repairs done early are hard to prove and easy to dispute.

Call your insurer, and file it yourself

Open the claim yourself, early, even if you do not yet know the extent. A few things worth knowing before that call:

• File it in your own name so the funds come to you. That keeps you in control of what any contractor gets paid, and when.
• Never sign over authority to manage or negotiate your claim. Contractors sometimes present this as paperwork that speeds things up. Negotiating a claim on your behalf is the job of a licensed public adjuster, not a roofer.
• Ask what temporary repairs are covered and what documentation they want, while you have someone on the phone.
• Write down names, dates and reference numbers for every call. Storm weeks are busy and you will speak to several people.
• Ask about your deductible and the timeline so you know what you are actually recovering before you commit to any work.

The knock at the door

After any significant storm, crews travel in from outside the area. Some are legitimate businesses working extra capacity. Many are not, and the pattern is consistent enough that you can spot it in the first thirty seconds:

• They knocked. You did not call them.
• They are "working in the area" and have "one slot left today."
• They want a decision now, and a signature now.
• They want a substantial deposit, often in cash, before any work starts.
• They take a keen interest in your insurance policy and want to see it.
• They offer to waive, absorb or refund your deductible.
• They want you to sign a document assigning your claim to them.

That last pair are the serious ones. An offer to cover your deductible is widely treated as insurance fraud — the money is usually recovered by inflating the claim, and it is your name on it. Signing over your claim hands away your leverage entirely.

The single rule that protects an entire street: nobody gets hired at the door. If a knock produces a genuinely good local, they will still be available tomorrow after you have checked them out.

Hiring safely in a storm week

You do need work done, often quickly, and most of it is legitimate trades who are simply busy. Six checks that filter almost everything:

1. Were they here before the storm? A local with a history in your town has something to lose. Someone who arrived on Tuesday does not.
2. Written scope and price before anything starts. "We'll bill the insurance" is not a price.
3. Proof of insurance and license where your state requires it, and a company name you can actually look up.
4. No large upfront deposits. Materials money can be reasonable on a big job; the full amount never is.
5. Check reviews and past work with dates. A profile with a year of history behind it is very hard to fake in a week.
6. Do not let anyone start work on the roof for free "to take a look" and then present you with damage they may have created.

The order to tackle the jobs

Once it is safe, documented and reported, the work itself has a sensible sequence. Doing it out of order means paying twice.

1. Make it watertight. Tarp, board, seal. Everything else is pointless while water is still coming in.
2. Get the water out and the air moving. Extraction and drying, fast. Mold is a matter of days, not weeks.
3. Deal with trees and limbs that threaten the house or the lines. Anything resting on a structure or near a power line is specialist work, not a chainsaw-on-a-ladder job.
4. Clear the debris so the property can be assessed and worked on properly.
5. Exterior repairs: roof, siding, gutters, fencing.
6. Interior repairs last: drywall, paint, flooring, and only once everything above is dry and signed off.

Two of those steps hide the most common expensive mistake: replacing drywall or flooring before the structure is properly dry. It looks finished and fails within months.

Frequently asked questions

What should you do first after storm damage?

Safety before anything else. Stay away from downed power lines and assume they are live, do not enter standing water anywhere near electrical outlets or panels, and leave immediately and call the utility from outside if you smell gas. Only once the property is safe should you start photographing. Nothing about documentation or insurance is worth an injury in the first hour.

Should I clean up storm damage before the insurance adjuster comes?

Photograph and video everything before you move or discard anything, from several angles and including close-ups of damaged items. You are then generally expected to make temporary repairs that stop the damage spreading, such as tarping a roof or boarding a window, and to keep receipts and photos of that work. What you should not do is carry out permanent repairs before the adjuster has assessed the damage and the scope is agreed.

Are temporary repairs covered by insurance after a storm?

Reasonable temporary repairs that prevent further damage are usually reimbursable, but only if you can prove them. Keep every receipt, photograph the damage before the temporary repair and the repair afterwards, and note the date. Policies vary, so confirm with your insurer when you open the claim. Doing nothing and letting water keep coming in can reduce what you recover, because most policies expect you to limit the damage.

What is a storm chaser contractor?

Crews that travel into an area after severe weather, knock on doors, and pressure homeowners into signing immediately. The pattern is consistent: they were not working in your town last month, they want a decision today, they ask for a large cash deposit up front, and they take an interest in your insurance policy. Some take the deposit and never return; others do poor work and are unreachable when it fails.

Is it legal for a contractor to waive my insurance deductible?

An offer to waive, absorb or refund your deductible is a serious warning sign and is widely treated as insurance fraud, since the cost is usually recovered by inflating the claim. Treat it as a reason to end the conversation. Be equally wary of anyone asking you to sign over authority to manage or negotiate your claim. File the claim yourself so the funds come to you and you control what the contractor is paid.

This is general guidance, not legal or insurance advice. Policies and state rules differ, so check your own policy and your state's licensing requirements before you commit to anything.

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