Storm Damage: First 48 Hours

A line of storms ripped through the metro last night. You wake up to a yard full of shingles, a tree limb resting on the gutter, and a wet spot on the upstairs ceiling that wasn’t there yesterday.

What you do in the next 48 hours determines whether this is a $2,000 repair or a $20,000 one. And whether your insurance covers most of it or denies the claim because you didn’t document it correctly.

I’ve helped homeowners across St. Charles County, St. Louis County, and the Metro East work through storm damage for years. The pattern of mistakes is predictable — and avoidable. Here’s the order of operations.

Hour 1: Safety First, Everything Else Second

Before you grab a camera or pick up a tarp, take a slow walk around (and through) your house. You’re checking for hazards, not damage.

Look Up Before You Walk Out

Power lines are the number one storm-day killer of homeowners. If you see any line down — utility line, cable, or anything draped across a tree, fence, or roof — assume it’s energized. Stay at least 35 feet away. Call Ameren Missouri at 1-800-552-7583 or Ameren Illinois at 1-800-755-5000 to report it. Don’t touch a tree, vehicle, or fence that a line is touching.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service both rank downed power lines as one of the most underestimated post-storm hazards. It’s not melodrama — people die in their own yards every year because they didn’t think to look up.

Smell the Air

If you smell gas anywhere on your property, leave the house immediately and call Spire Energy at 1-800-887-4173 from a neighbor’s house or your cell phone outside. Don’t flip switches, don’t start the car in the garage, don’t even ring the doorbell to alert a family member. Storms can shift gas meters and crack supply lines in ways that aren’t visible from outside.

Check the Inside

Walk through every room. You’re looking for:

Active water intrusion — drips, ceiling stains spreading, water on floors
Sagging drywall — water trapped in the cavity above
Tripped breakers — flip the panel cover open and check; one or more may have tripped during the surge
The smell of burning insulation or melted plastic — a lightning-strike fire can smolder in an attic for hours before becoming visible. If you smell anything burning, evacuate and call 911.

If a ceiling is bulging from trapped water, get a bucket under it and poke a small drainage hole with a screwdriver. Letting it drain in a controlled spot is far better than letting an entire ceiling section let go and dump 20 gallons across your living room.

Hour 2-4: Document Everything Before You Touch Anything

This is the step almost everyone skips, and it’s the one that determines what your insurance pays.

Photograph Aggressively

Take more photos than you think you need. From multiple angles. Wide shots showing the whole damaged area, then closer shots showing detail. Include something for scale — a hand, a ruler, a coin.

Specific shots that adjusters look for:

The roof from the ground on every side of the house. If you have a smartphone with zoom, use it. Don’t go up on a wet roof — the Bureau of Labor Statistics consistently ranks roof falls among the top causes of fatal construction injuries, and you’re not a roofer.
Every piece of debris in the yard — shingles, siding, gutters, branches.
Every interior water mark — ceilings, walls, floors. Photograph the entire room, not just the stain.
Personal property damage — soaked rugs, electronics with water in them, damaged furniture.
The hailstones themselves if hail is involved. Lay several next to a quarter on a flat surface and photograph from above. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains storm event records that adjusters cross-reference; matching your hail size to the record strengthens your claim.

Save everything to cloud storage immediately. Phones get dropped, lost, or stolen during cleanup.

Pull the Storm Record

Open the National Weather Service St. Louis office page and screenshot the storm summary, watches, and warnings active during the event. Note the date and time. This becomes evidence that a covered weather event actually occurred at your address.

Don’t Throw Anything Away Yet

I know it’s tempting to start cleaning up the yard. Don’t. Insurance adjusters need to see the debris in place. Tarp damaged personal property and move it to a garage or shed if it’s at risk of further damage, but keep the storm-damaged stuff separated and photographed before any of it leaves the property.

Hour 4-24: Stop the Bleeding

You’ve documented. Now you need to prevent further damage. This is what insurance companies call your “duty to mitigate” — and if you skip it, they can deny part of your claim.

Tarp the Roof If It’s Leaking

A blue tarp over a damaged section of roof is the universal sign of a recent storm in Missouri, and there’s a reason: it’s the most effective short-term fix.

If you can’t safely get on the roof yourself (and most homeowners can’t and shouldn’t), hire someone to do an emergency tarp. Most roofing companies in the St. Louis market will install an emergency tarp for $300 to $700 — call this in early because every other affected homeowner is calling at the same time.

A properly installed tarp:

Extends from the ridge down past the damaged area
Is fastened with 1x3 furring strips and roofing nails along all edges
Wraps over the ridge so wind can’t lift it

A tarp held down with bricks or sandbags won’t survive the next storm. Insist on a fastened tarp.

Cover Broken Windows

Plywood, plastic sheeting, and a staple gun. Cover from the outside if possible, with the plywood overlapping the frame by at least 4 inches on all sides. If you can’t get plywood quickly, tape a heavy-duty trash bag over the opening from the inside as a temporary measure. The Insurance Information Institute lists window securing as one of the highest-priority mitigation steps after a storm.

Move Wet Contents

Anything porous that got wet — rugs, upholstered furniture, mattresses, books — has roughly 24 to 48 hours before mold starts. Move it out of the wet area, get it propped up so air can circulate, and run fans if you have power. The EPA’s mold guidance is clear: prompt drying within 24 to 48 hours usually prevents mold growth.

If your basement took on water, get the contents out and start drying immediately. A wet-vac, dehumidifier, and air movers (rentable from any home center for under $100/day) make a real difference.

Call Your Insurance Company

File the claim within 24 hours if at all possible. Have ready:

Date and time of the storm
General description of damage
Your photos and videos
Receipts or estimates for emergency mitigation work

Get the claim number in writing. Save the adjuster’s name, direct phone, and email. Confirm in writing that you’ve been authorized to perform emergency mitigation (tarping, water extraction, plywood) and that those costs will be covered.

Hour 24-48: The Inspection and Estimate Phase

By now the immediate emergency is contained. Now you’re navigating the claim process.

Get Independent Estimates

Before the insurance adjuster arrives, get one or two independent estimates from local contractors. Not from a “storm chaser” company that knocked on your door this morning — from established local roofers, siding contractors, and handyman services with verifiable Missouri or Illinois business addresses and licensing.

The reason: insurance adjusters work for the insurance company. Their initial estimate is often the lowest defensible number. Having independent estimates in hand gives you leverage and prevents you from accepting a lowball settlement.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office regularly warns about storm-chasing contractor scams — out-of-state crews that show up after major storms, demand large deposits, do shoddy work, and disappear. Red flags:

Knocked on your door same-day or next-day after a storm
Out-of-state license plates and no local address
Asks for a large up-front payment
Pressures you to sign an “Assignment of Benefits” form giving them control of your insurance claim
Can’t provide local references from prior years

Understand Your Policy Before You Talk to the Adjuster

Pull out your homeowner’s policy and read the declarations page. Note:

Your deductible — what you pay before insurance kicks in
Whether you have a separate wind/hail deductible (common in Missouri, often 1-2% of dwelling coverage rather than a flat amount)
Whether you have Replacement Cost Value (RCV) or Actual Cash Value (ACV) coverage on the roof. ACV pays depreciated value — meaning a 15-year-old roof gets a small fraction of what a new one costs.
Coverage limits and exclusions

Many older policies in the St. Louis area have been quietly converted to ACV coverage on roofs at renewal — homeowners discover this only when they file a claim. The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance provides resources for understanding your policy.

Don’t Sign Anything Yet

The adjuster will provide a written estimate. So will the contractors. Take 24 to 48 hours to compare them. If the adjuster’s estimate is significantly lower than the contractor estimates for the same scope of work, push back. Provide the contractor estimates as documentation. Most legitimate insurance disputes are settled through this kind of documentation exchange.

If you can’t reach agreement, your policy includes an appraisal clause that allows third-party arbitration. That’s a step beyond first-pass negotiation, but it exists for a reason.

What Counts as Storm Damage (and What Doesn’t)

Insurance covers sudden, accidental damage from a covered peril. Storm wind, hail, and lightning are typically covered perils. What’s often not covered:

Gradual leaks — if a roof had been leaking before the storm and you knew about it, the insurer will argue that’s a maintenance issue, not storm damage. This is why the cost of delaying repairs matters even more than people realize.
Wear-and-tear — old shingles that finally gave way under wind that wouldn’t have damaged a newer roof
Flooding from rising water (vs. wind-driven rain through a damaged opening) — flood is a separate policy, not part of standard homeowner’s coverage. The National Flood Insurance Program is the primary source.
Damage from fallen trees on your own property if the tree was already dead or visibly diseased

The clean line for a covered claim is: the storm caused the damage, you didn’t have prior knowledge of the problem, and you took reasonable steps to mitigate further loss.

Common Mistakes I See

A few things I see homeowners do — every storm season — that cost them money:

Hiring the first contractor who knocks on the door. They’re often out-of-state. They often won’t be around if there’s a callback issue.

Letting a contractor handle the insurance claim entirely. Some legitimate contractors will help you navigate the claim. Others use that access to inflate claims, take the inflated payout, and do the cheaper actual work. Stay involved in your own claim.

Throwing away damaged materials before documentation is complete. Once it’s gone, it didn’t exist.

Skipping the temporary repairs because “it’s only supposed to rain on Wednesday.” It’s always supposed to rain on Wednesday in Missouri. Tarp it now.

Cashing the insurance check and pocketing the difference. Lenders typically require that mortgage holders co-endorse storm damage checks above a certain threshold and verify the work is completed. If you have a mortgage and the check is over a few thousand dollars, expect your lender to be involved.

When You Need Real Help, Not Just a Crew

We’re not a roofing company. But for the smaller storm damage items — siding repair, gutter replacement, fence repair, tarping help, fascia and soffit damage, broken window boarding, water cleanup — we can help. We work in St. Charles County, all of St. Louis County, and the Metro East. We’re local, we’re licensed, and we’re not going to disappear next month.

If you’re staring at a damaged house and don’t know where to start, call. We’ll walk you through what’s urgent, what can wait until Monday, and what needs a specialist.

The Order Matters

Let me sum it up the way I’d say it on the phone:

Safety first. Power lines, gas leaks, ceiling collapse risks.
Document everything before you touch anything.
Mitigate — tarp, plywood, dry out wet contents.
Call insurance within 24 hours.
Get independent estimates before the adjuster comes out.
Read your policy so you know what you’re entitled to.
Don’t sign anything under pressure.

Storms are part of life in Missouri. The next one is already on the radar somewhere. The homeowners who come out the other side with their finances intact aren’t lucky — they followed a process. Now you’ve got the process.

Stay safe out there.

Storm Damage to Your St. Louis Home? Here's What to Do in the First 48 Hours