What to Do in the First 24 Hours After a Hurricane Damages Your Roof

A hurricane just passed through your Treasure Coast neighborhood and your roof has damage. What happens in the next 24 hours matters enormously — not just for your home, but for your insurance claim. Water intrusion compounds quickly, adjusters look at what you did (or didn’t do) after the storm, and unlicensed storm chasers will be knocking on doors by morning. This guide gives you the five immediate steps, in order, from a licensed Florida roofing contractor who has worked post-storm response across St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River, and Palm Beach counties since 2004.

Step 1: Don’t Go Outside Until It’s Safe

The instinct after a storm is to get outside and assess damage immediately. Resist it until local emergency management or law enforcement has issued an official all-clear. In the hours after a hurricane, the Treasure Coast faces hazards that are not always visible from a window: downed power lines that may still be energized, standing water over road surfaces and drainage channels, destabilized trees and fence panels, and storm surge that can linger in low-lying areas of St. Lucie and Martin counties well after the eye passes.

While you wait, do an interior inspection. Go to your attic with a flashlight. Look for visible daylight through the deck boards (a sign of missing or displaced shingles above), sagging or wet insulation, or active dripping. Check ceilings on the top floor for water stains or bulges. Note where the intrusion is occurring — this information is useful for both your roofer and your adjuster.

If your ceiling is actively bulging, it may be holding pooled water. Protect the floor below and carefully puncture the lowest point of the bulge from the side — not directly beneath it — with a screwdriver to drain it in a controlled stream. Do not use electrical outlets or switches in rooms where water is dripping.

Florida Division of Emergency Management publishes county-level updates at FloridaDisaster.org. Wait for the county all-clear before beginning any outdoor inspection.

Step 2: Document Every Inch of Damage Before You Touch Anything

Before you move debris, remove any temporary covers, or start cleaning, document the damage thoroughly. This step is the foundation of a successful insurance claim. Florida insurers routinely dispute whether roof damage was caused by a covered storm event or whether it was pre-existing wear. Your documentation is the evidence that establishes the storm caused it.

Walk the full perimeter of your home and photograph every slope of the roof from the ground — all four elevations. Capture: missing or displaced shingles, exposed decking, impact points from fallen branches or debris, lifted or separated flashing around chimneys, vents, and skylights, damaged gutters and downspouts, and any structural deformation. Do the same in the attic. Take video as well as photos — video captures the full context that a static image can miss.

Every photo and video should be automatically time-stamped by your device. After shooting, immediately back everything up to a cloud folder (Google Drive or iCloud) and send a backup email to yourself with key images attached. Your phone can be lost or damaged; cloud storage cannot.

If you had a pre-storm inspection report from a licensed contractor, retrieve it now. A before-and-after paper trail from a licensed professional is far more persuasive with an adjuster than photographs alone. If you did not have a pre-storm inspection, note that for next year — Dalton Roofing provides free written inspection reports that serve exactly this purpose.

Step 3: Stop Further Water Intrusion — Emergency Tarping

Once it is safe to be outside, your next priority is mitigating further water damage. Florida law requires homeowners to take reasonable steps to prevent additional damage after a covered loss — this is called the duty to mitigate. Failing to act can give your insurer grounds to dispute secondary water damage that occurred after the storm, arguing it resulted from your inaction rather than the storm itself.

An emergency tarp over any exposed decking or open roof section is the standard mitigation measure. Use heavy-duty polyethylene sheeting (at minimum 6 mil thickness) and secure it well past the damaged area to direct water away from the opening. Run the tarp over the ridge line if possible so water cannot pool at the top edge. Weight or anchor the edges — do not rely on tape alone.

If you cannot safely access the roof yourself, call a licensed roofing contractor for emergency tarping service. Do not get on a wet, debris-covered, or potentially structurally compromised roof. A licensed contractor has fall-protection equipment and can assess whether the decking is safe to walk before accessing it.

Keep all receipts from any emergency tarping materials or contractor labor. Most Florida homeowners policies cover emergency mitigation expenses as part of the storm claim. Document the tarped area with photos before and after installation.

For comprehensive storm emergency roof repair service across the Treasure Coast, Dalton Roofing maintains 24/7 emergency response capability during active storm events.

Step 4: Call a Licensed Florida Roofer — and How to Spot Storm Chasers

After every major storm event on the Treasure Coast, unlicensed contractors arrive from out of state or out of area and offer quick repairs at high prices. These “storm chasers” are aggressive — they knock on doors, claim to have spotted damage from the street, and pressure homeowners to sign contracts on the spot. Their work is unregulated, carries no enforceable warranty, and may not meet Florida Building Code requirements for the Wind-Borne Debris Region that applies to St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River, and Palm Beach counties.

Before any contractor gets on your roof, verify their Florida license. You can do this in seconds at MyFloridaLicense.com — the official licensing portal of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Search by name or license number. A valid Florida State Certified Roofing Contractor license begins with the prefix CCC. An unlicensed contractor will not appear in the database.

Additional red flags: a contractor who cannot provide proof of liability insurance and workers’ compensation coverage, who demands full payment upfront, or who pressures you to sign an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) document. Florida has significantly restricted AOB abuse in recent years — signing over your claim rights can complicate your ability to manage the process and limit your options if the repair work is deficient.

Dalton Roofing holds Florida State Certified Roofing Contractor license #CCC1330147, verifiable at MyFloridaLicense.com. We have served the Treasure Coast since 2004 with documented local references. Call us at (561) 586-6646 for post-storm emergency response in Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, and surrounding communities.

Step 5: Notify Your Insurer and Start Your Claim

Contact your insurance company as soon as it is safe to do so — within 24 to 72 hours of discovering damage. Most Florida insurers have 24/7 claims lines and expect prompt notification. Before you call, have ready: your policy number, the property address, a description of the damage (what areas of the roof, what type of damage), and your documentation photos.

When you reach the claims department, get a claim number and the name and direct contact for the adjuster assigned to your file. Ask what the inspection timeline is and whether you should wait for the adjuster before completing any permanent repairs (temporary mitigation such as tarping is generally fine to proceed with).

Under Florida Statute §627.70132, as amended in 2022, homeowners must notify their insurer of a hurricane or windstorm claim within one year of the date of loss. The date of loss is the date the storm caused damage, not the date you discovered it. Do not assume you have years to file — Florida has reduced this window significantly from prior law. If you are unsure, consult a licensed public adjuster or attorney who handles property insurance claims.

Keep a written log of every conversation with your insurer: the date, who you spoke with, what was said, and any next steps you were given. Florida Statute §627.70131 requires insurers to acknowledge receipt of your claim within 14 days and pay or deny the claim within 90 days (with some exceptions for catastrophic events when the Department of Financial Services grants an extension).

Do and Don’t: First 24 Hours After Hurricane Roof Damage

Use this quick reference to avoid the common mistakes that complicate insurance claims and lead to additional property damage.