We warned you last night about the storm and have now confirmed an EF1 tornado hit Katy. We have widespread damage to homes and businesses in the Katy and Dickinson areas.
Thousands of you also woke up in the dark. The severe storm knocked out power to more than 100K customers, gusty wind conditions toppled trees onto cars and some drivers crashed their cars.
So what happens next?
After the storm: collecting the evidence
- Clean up debris as soon as possible. Don’t wait for an insurance adjuster or FEMA home inspector to visit your home.
- Take photos or videos of the outside and inside of your property, including damaged personal property, and label the video and pictures by room. This helps document evidence of your damage.
- Photograph the make, model and serial number of items like washers and dryers, water heaters, kitchen appliances, TVs and computers.
- Keep samples of carpet, flooring, wallpaper, drapes, etc.
- Separate damaged from undamaged personal property items to show the adjuster.
SEE ALSO: Damage assessment underway after severe storms hit Houston
Read the full article here: Home damaged by the storm? Here’s what you should do right now
Help navigating your insurance claims
Answers to some important questions from attorney Rene Sigman, who specializes in storm damage:
Q: If a tree falls onto or into your house, what’s the first thing you should do?
A: Call your insurance company or agent and file a claim. Then, email them as well so it’s in writing and send photos. Do not try and remove the tree yourself. Make sure to tarp any openings in the roof from the tree.
Next Steps:
1 - Make sure you call a reputable tree removal service that can assist in removing the tree and a contractor who is insured.
2 - Your insurance carrier should send out an adjuster to inspect the property.
3 - During that inspection, besides obvious roof damage and interior ceiling damage, you want them to look at your entire house to see if there are any cracks in the sheetrock related to the tree falling. Trees on homes can cause structural damage to the outside and inside. This is why it is important to get reputable contractors and sometimes an engineer to see the extent of the damage.
Q: If the tree was in poor health could that make a difference in the claim or who is responsible?
A: No. If the tree fell on your house because the wind blew it over, then most insurance policies cover that and tree conditions do not matter.
Q: What if it’s your tree and it fell over your neighbor’s fence or your fence and their tree?
A: If your tree falls on a fence shared with your neighbor, you still need to notify your insurance company. Insurance companies can work out who “owes” for the tree between insurance companies.
Q: Does the condition of the fence matter?
A: The condition of the fence won’t matter if the storm blew the tree over.
Q: What’s something people don’t know or would be surprised to learn about insurance claims and tornadoes?
A: Tornadoes are covered under insurance policies generally. They can cause tremendous damage to the structure of the house and often the foundation. You may need an engineer to determine the extent of damage.
Q: What if your car gets damaged and you’re upside down on the loan? What can the average person do? Does something like gap insurance come into play?
A: You should file your claim on your car under your auto insurance policy. The carrier should pay for it but if you don’t have full replacement cost coverage or what is called “agreed value” coverage then you might be upside down and yes, gap insurance helps in this scenario.
Upload your storm damage pictures to Click2Houston.com to share clean-up ideas with others. We all win when we work together to find solutions.
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