What to Do in the First 72 Hours After a Storm Damages Your Roof

Hour 0–2: Safety First

The roof is not the emergency. The roof is already damaged and it will still be damaged in two hours. What can change in two hours is whether someone gets hurt. So the first pass through the house has nothing to do with shingles.

Start outside, from a distance, in daylight if you have it. Look for downed wires — in the wooded eastern half of Ottawa County, where the Ozark Plains bring trees right up against the service drop, a limb on a line is the single most common post-storm hazard. The National Fire Protection Association's guidance is blunt about this: treat every downed line as energized, stay back, and never touch anything the line is touching, including a fence, a puddle, a car, or a tree limb. Call 911 and the utility. Do not move the limb to get a better look at your roof.

If you smell gas, leave. Don't flip a light switch on the way out, don't use the garage door opener, don't start a car in the garage. Call from outside, from a neighbor's, or from the street.

Back inside, three things matter. A ceiling that is sagging or bulging is holding water, and water is heavy — do not stand under it. Standing water on a floor near an outlet, a submerged appliance, or a panel is an electrical hazard first and a water problem second; FEMA's post-disaster guidance for homeowners is to stay out of water that may be in contact with wiring and to shut power off at the main only if you can reach it without standing in water. If you can't, that's an electrician's call, not yours. And if any part of the structure looks like it moved — a wall out of plumb, a door that suddenly won't latch, a visible dip in a roof plane — get everyone out and call the fire department.

Hour 2–12: Stop the Water Without Making the Damage Worse

Now you have a job: keep water out of the parts of the house that aren't wet yet. Most policies place a duty on the homeowner to protect the property from further damage after a loss — read your own policy language, because it's your policy that governs. But the practical version is simple. Water that keeps running turns a roof claim into a roof, drywall, insulation, and flooring claim, and mold doesn't wait for an adjuster.

Inside the house first

Move furniture and electronics out from under any active drip. Pull up rugs — a wet rug on a wood floor cups the floor in a day. Put a bucket down and a towel in the bucket, which kills the noise and the splashing.

If a ceiling is bulging, there is a counterintuitive move that saves the ceiling: from off to the side, never underneath, use a long screwdriver to poke one small hole at the lowest point of the bulge and let it drain into a bucket. A controlled hole you can patch beats an uncontrolled collapse that takes the whole sheet of drywall, the insulation above it, and whatever was on the bed. Photograph the bulge before you do it. And do not do this if you have any reason to think there's wiring or a junction box in that bay.

Then the roof itself

Tarping is the right answer and it is also the thing you should not do yourself on a wet roof. It's not just the footing. A tarp only works if it runs over the ridge and is anchored above the damage, so water can't get under the top edge — a tarp stapled around a hole is a funnel. It has to be fastened without punching a new grid of holes through the good shingles beside the damaged ones, which is why the fastening is done with boards rolled into the tarp edge rather than nails driven through the field. And it has to be tight, because a loose tarp in Oklahoma wind is gone by morning and takes shingles with it.

We do emergency tarping and we don't charge for the inspection or the estimate. If you want to know what a tarp is supposed to look like when it's done right — and what it's supposed to cost you in documentation — that's covered on our emergency roof tarping page. Call us and we'll tell you honestly where you sit in the queue; after a hail event that hits the whole town, everyone in this trade is working a list.

What to Photograph Before Anything Gets Moved or Cleaned Up

This is the step homeowners skip and regret. Once the tarp is on, nobody can see what was under it. Once the yard is raked, the evidence is in a bag at the curb. Your phone timestamps everything automatically — that metadata is worth more than any note you write later.

Shoot in threes: a wide shot that shows the whole elevation and proves it's your house, a medium shot that shows the area, and a close-up that shows the actual damage. A close-up with no context is a photo of a shingle that could have come from anywhere.

• All four elevations of the house from the ground, plus the detached garage or shop if you have one
• Any hail on the ground, with a coin, a ruler, or a tape measure in the frame for scale — do it fast, it melts
• Granules: in the gutters, on the splash blocks, in a line at the bottom of the downspout, washed into the driveway
• Soft metals, which bruise before shingles do — gutters, downspouts, fascia, the mailbox, the A/C condenser fins, the grill lid, the shed door
• Debris on the roof and in the yard, exactly where it landed
• Inside: every stain, every drip, every wet spot, with a bucket in frame for scale
• The attic: daylight through the deck, damp or dark decking, wet insulation — shoot from the hatch with the flash on, don't walk the joists in the dark
• A short video walking the perimeter narrating what you're seeing and the date

The soft-metal shots matter more than people realize. An adjuster who can't get a read on the shingles can often read a downspout, because aluminum records a hit that a weathered shingle hides. The Oklahoma Climatological Survey puts this area at four to five days a year with hail larger than three quarters of an inch, which means the roof you're standing under has probably taken hits before — and telling this storm's damage from the last one is exactly what dated photos and fresh, unweathered dents do for you. Our guide to documenting roof storm damage with photos goes deeper on framing and what a bruise actually looks like.

Hour 12–48: Reporting the Loss to Your Carrier and What to Say

Call the number on your policy or use your carrier's app. The Oklahoma Insurance Department's consumer guidance on filing property claims is the plain-English reference here, and it's worth ten minutes of your time before you dial — it is written by the regulator, not by anyone with a stake in the outcome.

Here is the part that matters and that almost nobody tells you: report what you observed, not what you concluded. You know the date and roughly the time of the storm. You know you heard hail, or you didn't. You know there's a stain on the bedroom ceiling and shingles in the yard. You do not know that the roof is 'totaled', you do not know that the damage is hail rather than wind or age, and you should not say either. Guessing at cause and severity on a recorded line, to a person whose job is to write down what you said, helps nobody — least of all you, if the guess turns out wrong. Describe. Don't diagnose.

Before you hang up, get answers to these:

• Your claim number, and the name and direct contact for the adjuster assigned
• Your deductible for this loss — some Oklahoma policies carry a separate wind and hail deductible calculated as a percentage of the dwelling amount rather than a flat dollar figure, so confirm which one applies
• Whether the policy pays replacement cost or actual cash value on the roof, and whether there's a roof surfacing schedule or a cosmetic damage exclusion
• The deadline for submitting a sworn proof of loss, if one applies
• Whether your policy covers reasonable emergency measures, and what documentation the carrier wants for them
• How you should submit photos, and whether they'd like the ones you already took

If you want the longer version of what happens between the first call and the final check, we've written it out step by step in our walkthrough of the Oklahoma roof insurance claim process.

Emergency vs. Permanent Repairs: Why the Distinction Affects Reimbursement

These are two different categories of work, treated differently, paid on different schedules, and documented differently. Mixing them up is the most expensive administrative mistake a homeowner makes in the first week.

One more reason the distinction is worth understanding: a tarp is not a repair, and no honest contractor should let you believe it is. It buys you time to make a decision carefully. That's its whole job.

Keeping Receipts and a Written Damage Log

Memory is bad at this. Three weeks from now you will not remember whether the ceiling stain appeared the night of the storm or two days later, and that detail can matter. A log takes four minutes a day and it is the cheapest thing you will do in this entire process.

Keep it in a notes app or on a legal pad on the kitchen counter. Four columns, nothing fancy. The photo reference column is the part that makes it work — it ties every claim you make to an image somebody else can look at.

Alongside the log, start an envelope. Into it goes: every receipt for tarps, plastic, buckets, fans, dehumidifier rental, and box fans; the tarping invoice; a hotel receipt if the house was unlivable; and mileage if you had to make trips. Photograph each receipt the day you get it — thermal paper fades to blank in a few months, and the faded ones are the ones you'll need.

Hour 48–72: Getting an Independent Roof Assessment

By now the water is controlled, the photos exist, and the claim is open. This is the right moment — not sooner — to have someone who actually knows roofs walk yours and tell you what's there. Not to sell you anything. To tell you what's there.

Before you let anyone on your roof, spend ninety seconds on this. Oklahoma's Construction Industries Board runs a public lookup at verifyroofing.cib.ok.gov. Type in a company name and see whether they're registered. Registration is not a rubber stamp: it requires the contractor to carry commercial general liability insurance of at least $500,000 for residential work. That's the number standing between you and a claim on your own homeowners policy if somebody falls off your roof. Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas issue registrations rather than licenses, and Missouri has no state roofing license at all — so if a contractor tells you they're 'licensed and bonded,' they're using words that don't describe anything in this market. Ask for the registration number and check it yourself. It takes less time than reading their brochure.

Two Oklahoma specifics worth knowing before you compare estimates. Oklahoma amended IRC section R908.3.1.1 to require a full tear-off rather than a shingle-over in defined conditions — so an estimate that quietly proposes a layover where the code requires tear-off is not a cheaper bid, it's a non-compliant one. And the City of Miami requires a permit for new roofs and re-shingles. We pull it. Ask any other bidder whether they do, and watch how quickly they answer.

A useful assessment leaves you holding two documents: a photo report showing what was found and where, and a written, itemized estimate for the work we would perform. Not a number on the back of a card. If you ask us to be there when your adjuster comes out, we'll be there and we'll show them what we found. We won't tell you your damage 'qualifies' — that isn't ours to say, and anyone who says it is guessing. Free inspections, free estimates, across Ottawa County and out into Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas; the details of what storm damage roof repair actually involves are on our services page, and if you want to know how we work locally, our Miami, OK page lays it out.

Who You Should Not Sign With in the First 72 Hours, and Why

After a hail event that covers a whole town, the trucks show up. Some of them are legitimate out-of-area contractors doing honest work. Some of them will be in Missouri by the time your shingles start curling. You cannot tell them apart by the truck, and the CIB lookup exists precisely because you shouldn't have to try.

The clearest red flag in Oklahoma is any conversation about your deductible. Under 59 O.S. § 1151.30 — amended effective November 1, 2025 by HB 1257 — it is unlawful to advertise or promise to pay, directly or indirectly, any part of an insurance deductible, or to give an insured anything of value for a service. That last clause covers the yard-sign discount, the referral bonus, and the gift card for a review on an insurance job. So when someone at your door says they'll 'take care of' your deductible or get you a 'free roof,' they are describing conduct Oklahoma law prohibits. That tells you everything about how they'll handle the rest of your money. We've written more on how to spot storm chasers in Oklahoma if you want the full pattern.

The other trap is paper. A 'contingency agreement' that binds you to whatever the insurance company approves is a contract with a blank price, signed before anyone knows the scope. You are agreeing to a number that doesn't exist yet, with a company you met four minutes ago, on the worst morning of your year.

So, the short list of things not to do in the first three days:

• Do not climb onto a wet or hail-slicked roof to look, tarp, or photograph
• Do not tarp it yourself — a tarp anchored below the damage funnels water in, and a loose one leaves with the next gust
• Do not throw away damaged shingles, gutter sections, or debris before photographing and bagging them
• Do not clean up, rake, or pressure-wash before the photos are taken
• Do not tell your carrier anything you don't know to be true, including your own guess at the cause
• Do not sign a contract with no price, no scope, or a blank space anywhere on it
• Do not sign with anyone whose registration you haven't checked at verifyroofing.cib.ok.gov
• Do not accept any offer involving your deductible, a rebate, a gift card, or a sign in your yard on an insurance job
• Do not let permanent work begin before your adjuster has seen the roof
• Do not hire based on who knocked first

What Happens Next: Adjuster Scheduling and Realistic Timelines

Expect the inspection to take longer than you want. When one storm damages a whole town, carriers bring in catastrophe adjusters from out of state and work a queue. That's not a carrier being difficult — it's arithmetic. Ask your adjuster directly for an expected timeframe and write the answer in your log with the date you were told it. If a promised date passes, you now have a record, and the Oklahoma Insurance Department's consumer division exists to answer questions about how your carrier is handling the claim.

When the adjuster does come, be there. Have your photos on your phone, your log in your hand, and your bagged debris by the garage. If you've asked us to attend, we'll walk the roof with them and point at what we found. Then wait for the written scope — the itemized document that says what the carrier will pay for. Read it against the estimate you're holding. Where they differ, the difference is usually a line item somebody didn't see, and that's a factual conversation about a roof, not an argument about a claim.

On money: many replacement-cost policies pay actual cash value first — the depreciated value — and release the recoverable depreciation after the work is done and invoiced. That means the first check is often smaller than the total. It is not the total. Understanding that one sentence prevents most of the panic that happens on day ten. Your policy language and your insurer's decision govern all of it.

Your 72-hour checklist, in order

If your roof is open to the weather in Miami or anywhere across Ottawa County and into Kansas, Missouri, or Arkansas, we can tarp the slope, walk the roof, and give you a photo report and a written estimate at no charge — and be there when your adjuster comes, if you want us there. We're at 111 S Main St in Miami, on the old Route 66 alignment. Call (209) 758-8550.