Home Inspection After a Hurricane: What to Check and How to Document Storm Damage in Florida

Safety first: before you check anything after a hurricane

The wind stops long before the danger does. Several of the worst hazards appear afterward: flood water, damaged wiring, portable generators and ladders propped against wet roofs. Checking your house is not worth an injury, so walk it in an order that keeps you out of harm's way, and leave anything that looks unsafe to the utility, the fire department or a licensed professional.

Downed lines and flood water

Ready.gov warns that underground or downed power lines can electrically charge water, and that you should not touch electrical equipment if it is wet or if you are standing in water. Treat every fallen line as energized, keep children and pets well away and report it to your electric utility. Flood water can also carry sewage, chemicals, debris and wildlife, and the federal advice is simply not to wade in it.

If water reached outlets, the panel or appliances, do not flip anything back on to see whether it works. Turn power off at the main breaker only if you can reach it while standing somewhere dry. Otherwise, wait for the utility or a licensed electrician.

Generators and carbon monoxide

CDC's guidance is blunt: never use a generator inside your home or garage, even if doors and windows are open. Run it outdoors, more than 20 feet from windows, doors and vents, and keep a battery-powered or battery backup carbon monoxide detector working inside the house while it runs. Carbon monoxide has no smell. CDC lists headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion as symptoms, and people often mistake them for the flu.

A portable generator should never be plugged into a wall outlet to power the house. That kind of backfeed can energize the utility lines outside, where crews are working to restore service. A permanent connection needs a transfer switch or an interlock installed by a licensed electrician.

Ladders, roofs and sagging ceilings

Wet tile, loose shingles and scattered debris make a roof far more dangerous after a storm than on a dry day, and damaged tile cracks further under a boot. Look at the roof from the ground, with binoculars or from an upstairs window, and let a roofer or an inspector go up. Inside, stay out from under any ceiling that bulges or sags with water, because drywall holding water can let go all at once. Ready.gov also suggests keeping children out of cleanup work and keeping people with asthma, lung conditions or weakened immune systems away from buildings with leaks or visible mold.

How to check for hurricane damage from the outside

Start with a slow walk around the house in daylight, phone in hand. Take wide photos of each side of the house before you move a single branch, then closer photos of anything that looks different from before the storm. The goal of this first walk is not to diagnose everything. It is to spot what needs a tarp or a professional, and to create a record of the house exactly as the storm left it.

The roof, seen from the ground

Look for breaks in the pattern: missing shingles, tiles that slid out of their rows, broken tile pieces in the yard or gutters, lifted edges on metal panels, roofing peeled back on a flat roof, and ridge or hip caps that are missing or out of line. Granules or tile fragments collecting at the downspouts are a sign the surface took a beating. A shingle can also be damaged without leaving the roof. When wind lifts and folds it, a straight crease forms across the tab and the sealant strip underneath may let go. Creases are hard to see from the driveway, which is why a close look matters.

Soffits, fascia and gutters

The soffit panels under the eaves are easy to overlook and surprisingly important. When a vinyl or aluminum soffit panel pops out, wind-driven rain can blow straight into the attic and soak insulation far from any roof leak. Check the fascia boards for loose or missing sections, the drip edge for lifted metal and the gutters for sagging runs, separated joints and downspouts torn off the wall.

Screens, fences, trees and the pool enclosure

Torn screen panels and bent aluminum framing are common on pool cages and screened porches. Look for posts pulled from the deck or slab, and for a frame that now leans. Trees deserve a careful look too: one that now tilts, has soil heaved up on one side or has a cracked limb hanging over the roof can fail in the next gust. Fences, sheds and carports often show the direction and strength of the wind better than the house itself does.

Walls, openings and outdoor equipment

Walk the stucco looking for new cracks, especially at the corners of windows and doors, and for impact marks from flying debris. Check that the A/C condenser still sits level on its pad, that the refrigerant lines are not kinked or crushed and that its disconnect box is closed. Then look up at the electrical service. A meter base pulled away from the wall or a mast bent by a falling limb is a job for the utility and an electrician, not for you. Finally, note any water line on the outside walls, garage door or fence, because the height the water reached tells you what to check inside.

Roof inspection after a hurricane: what wind does to each roof type

Wind does not load a roof evenly. Uplift is strongest at the corners, the edges and the ridge, so those are the places to check first, and they are also where damage hides from someone standing in the driveway. What the damage looks like depends on the covering:

• Concrete and clay tile. Broken, cracked or slipped tiles, chipped noses, displaced ridge and hip tiles and tiles knocked loose from their adhesive or mortar. Flying debris often cracks tiles that stay in place, and a single broken tile leaves the underlayment beneath it exposed to sun and rain.
• Asphalt shingles. Missing tabs, creased tabs, unsealed shingles that lift easily when pushed, exposed underlayment and damaged ridge caps. Lifted shingles may lie back down after the storm and look normal from below.
• Metal. Panels lifted at the eave or the ridge, loose or missing fasteners, bent trim and dents from debris. A seam that opened slightly can let in wind-driven rain long before anyone sees it.
• Flat and low-slope. Membrane peeled back at the edge, torn or displaced flashing at parapet walls, new blisters, gravel scoured away and water ponding in spots where it never ponded before.

Penetrations need their own look on every roof type: plumbing vents, exhaust caps, skylights, satellite dish mounts and the flashing around each one. Damage there is small and easy to miss, and it is a common source of slow leaks that only show up weeks later, during the next heavy rain.

Not every flaw is storm damage. Tiles cracked by foot traffic years ago, shingles curling with age and worn flashing are wear, and insurers treat wear differently from a sudden loss. A useful report separates what looks recent from what was already there, because a report that blurs the two helps no one. If your roof is older, read how roof age and partial repairs affect your policy, including the code rule that can turn a large repair into a full replacement.

A roof inspection after a storm combines a close look at the surface, often by drone on tile roofs that should not be walked, with the attic and the ceilings below. The result is a dated record of the roof's condition. If your insurer later asks for proof of the roof's remaining life, that is a separate document, explained in our guide to what a Florida roof certification includes.

Inside the attic: daylight, wet insulation and connectors

The attic is where roof damage shows up first, and where many homeowners never look. If you can get there safely, bring a strong flashlight, step only on the framing or a walkway, and go early in the day, because a South Florida attic in the afternoon is dangerous heat. What to look for:

• Daylight through the roof deck, especially around nails, along the ridge and near the eaves. Where light comes through, water can follow.
• Dark, damp stains on the underside of the plywood or along the trusses. Fresh moisture looks darker and feels damp; old stains are lighter, dry and sharply outlined.
• Wet, matted or displaced insulation, often below a soffit that blew out or along a gable wall.
• Sheathing that has shifted, split or pushed up, and nails that backed out of the framing.
• Water on the air handler's platform or in its secondary pan, and duct sections that came apart.
• Bent, pulled or badly rusted metal straps and clips where the trusses meet the walls.

Wet insulation deserves attention. It holds water against the drywall ceiling below, it stops insulating and it can stay damp for weeks in an attic that never really dries out in summer. Small damp patches may dry once the leak is fixed; large soaked areas usually have to be removed and replaced.

The connectors matter because they hold the roof to the house. If you want to know what each type looks like and how it is documented, our guide to hurricane straps and roof-to-wall connections walks through them. A strap or clip that bent or pulled loose during the storm is a structural repair, not a cosmetic one, and it calls for a licensed contractor or an engineer.

Water damage after a hurricane: ceilings, walls and floors

Inside, water usually gives itself away, but slowly. Walk every room and look up first: stains, bubbled or peeling paint, a ceiling that sags between joists, a light fixture with water in the globe. Then look low: damp carpet at the edge of a room, swollen baseboards, laminate that has started to cup and cabinet bases that feel soft.

Wind-driven rain versus flood water

Two very different kinds of water get into Florida houses during a hurricane. Wind-driven rain comes in high, through the roof, a blown soffit, the top of a window or a slider pushed past its rating, and it runs down inside the walls. Flood water comes in low and rises, usually leaving a level line across every wall it touched. The difference matters for repairs and for insurance, because flood damage is generally handled by a separate flood policy, not by a standard homeowners policy.

Windows, sliders and the bottom of the wall

The sills and lower corners of windows and sliding glass doors are where wind-driven rain most often gets past. Check for wet carpet tack strip, stained baseboard and blistered paint below each opening. A slider with clogged weep openings can fill its track and spill over the sill, which is worth noting even when the door itself looks fine.

Why a dry surface can mislead you

Drywall can feel dry to the touch while its bottom inch, the insulation behind it or the base of a cabinet stays wet for days. That is why inspectors take moisture meter readings along walls instead of trusting a hand. A thermal camera adds speed: with the A/C running, damp areas usually read cooler than the dry wall around them. It is a screening tool, not proof, so every suspicious spot gets confirmed with a meter. Our article on what a thermal camera can and cannot see explains the limits.

Windows, doors, shutters and garage doors after the storm

Openings take direct hits from wind pressure and flying debris. Walk each one, inside and out:

• Impact windows and doors. Laminated glass is designed to crack and stay in the frame. A cracked impact pane did its job, but it is now a damaged opening that needs replacement.
• Shutters and storm panels. Bent tracks, stripped or missing anchors, buckled panels and accordion shutters that no longer lock. Hardware that failed in this storm will fail again in the next one.
• Garage doors. Panels bowed inward, bent tracks, rollers out of their track and bracing pulled loose. When a garage door gives way, wind can pressurize the house from the inside.
• Frames and seals. Gaps between the frame and the wall, cracked caulk and stucco cracks running from the corners, all of them paths for the next rain.

Damaged openings also affect your windstorm credits. On the 2026 wind mitigation form, openings in need of repair or replacement have their own answer, Z, and the form states that homes with openings needing replacement do not qualify for wind mitigation rate differentials. If the storm cracked a window or bent the garage door, repair it before your next wind mitigation inspection, because the report shows each opening as it is on the day of the visit. For the replacement itself, our guide to impact windows and opening protection explains which products and papers count.

A/C, electrical and plumbing after flooding

Anything that sat in flood water needs a professional before it runs again. That includes the outdoor A/C condenser if water rose over it, an air handler in a garage or utility room, the electrical panel and any outlets, switches or breakers below the water line. NEMA, the association of electrical equipment manufacturers, publishes guidance that treats many submerged components, including molded-case breakers, fuses, GFCI and AFCI devices and receptacles, as parts to replace rather than dry out. A licensed electrician makes that call.

For the cooling system, EPA advises against running an HVAC system you know or suspect is contaminated with mold, and flood water brings more than mold. Ducts in a flooded garage, the insulation on refrigerant lines and the lining of an air handler cabinet can all hold contaminated water. A licensed HVAC contractor should evaluate the system before it is turned back on.

Even without flooding, storms and outages are hard on equipment. When power returns, watch and listen: an A/C that runs but does not cool, a breaker that keeps tripping, a burning smell at an outlet or a water heater that will not relight are all reasons to call. Check the plumbing you can see as well: exterior pipes and hose bibs hit by falling limbs, pool and irrigation lines knocked loose and sewer cleanout caps in the yard that were broken or buried by debris. Where sewers backed up in the neighborhood, any drain that gurgles or overflows needs attention before the house goes back to normal use.

The mold clock: drying within 24 to 48 hours

Mold needs moisture, something to feed on and time, and a Florida house after a hurricane often has all three, plus heat and no A/C. EPA's guidance is that water-damaged areas and items should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth, and that when wet materials dry within that window, mold usually will not grow. Its flood guidance adds a plain warning: things that stay wet for more than two days usually get moldy.

That window is short, and after a large storm, drying crews and equipment are hard to find. Do what you safely can in the first two days:

1. Stop the water. Tarp the opening in the roof, cover or board the broken window and close the supply valve if a pipe broke.
2. Photograph, then move. Record wet rooms and belongings first, then get them out of the water.
3. Open up and ventilate. Pull up soaked rugs and pads, open cabinet doors and closets and run fans and a dehumidifier once you have power.
4. Let go of what cannot dry. Soaked mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpet pad and insulation rarely recover.
5. Measure instead of guessing. A moisture meter tells you whether drywall, baseboards and cabinets are truly dry before anyone closes them up or lays new flooring.

Flood water is a different job from rainwater. EPA says to call in a professional when the water damage came from sewage or other contaminated water, and porous materials soaked by it generally have to go. Wear gloves, eye protection and a mask suited to mold cleanup when you handle wet, moldy debris.

If a musty smell shows up weeks later, or if water ran inside walls and ceilings you cannot see, a mold inspection with air sampling can show whether growth followed. Our longer guide to the warning signs of mold in a Florida house covers where it hides once the water is gone.

Post-hurricane home inspection checklist

Use this table as a walk-through, one row at a time. It follows the order an inspector uses after a storm: outside to inside, top to bottom, with the riskiest systems last and only when they are safe to approach.

Keep the checklist with your photos. Where a row points to a licensed trade, it is because most permanent roof, electrical, plumbing and A/C repairs in Florida need a licensed contractor and a permit. An unpermitted storm repair can cause trouble later, when you sell, refinance or renew your insurance.

Storm damage inspection for insurance: how to document a claim

Documentation is the part of a claim you control. The Florida Department of Financial Services' 2026 hurricane guidance tells homeowners to take pictures, videos or written notes of the damage, report it to their agent or insurer, make emergency repairs to prevent further damage and document them, and keep a log of their communication with adjusters. In practice, that means:

• Photos and video of every side of the house, every damaged area and every room that took water, taken before cleanup starts. Use wide shots to show where you are and close shots to show detail.
• The date and time of each photo. Phones record this automatically, so keep the original files.
• A list of damaged belongings with their approximate age, plus photos of model and serial plates on appliances and electronics.
• Receipts for tarps, plywood, fans, dehumidifier rentals, water extraction, hotel nights and anything else the storm made you spend.
• Photos of emergency repairs before, during and after, and any damaged material you removed, or a sample of it, kept until the adjuster has seen it or tells you it is not needed.
• A simple log: who you called, when, your claim number and what was said.

Florida's claim notice deadlines

Section 627.70132 of the Florida Statutes sets the outer limits for property insurance claims. An initial or reopened claim is barred unless notice was given to the insurer, according to the terms of the policy, within 1 year after the date of loss. A supplemental claim, meaning additional loss from the same peril the insurer already adjusted, has 18 months. For a hurricane, the date of loss is the date the hurricane made landfall. For other weather events, the statute uses the date the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration verifies the event.

Those are the latest dates the law allows, not a schedule to follow. Your policy has its own duties after a loss, usually including prompt notice, and damage gets harder to show as weeks pass and repairs pile up. Report the loss as soon as you reasonably can, and read the section of your policy on your duties after a loss. We are inspectors, not attorneys or adjusters, so questions about what your policy covers or how to dispute a decision belong with your insurer, a licensed public adjuster or a Florida attorney.

Reasonable emergency repairs

You are generally expected to protect the property from further damage, and leaving rain pouring through an open roof while you wait for an adjuster only makes the loss bigger. Emergency repairs are the temporary kind: a tarp over the opening, plywood over a broken window, water extraction and drying, a closed valve on a broken pipe. Photograph the damage before you cover it, keep the receipts and hold off on permanent work, such as a new roof or new drywall, until your insurer has had the chance to see the damage, unless the insurer tells you otherwise. If you are unsure what counts as reasonable under your policy, ask your insurer and write the answer in your log.

How an independent inspection report and thermal imaging help

Your insurer will send its own adjuster, and that adjuster works for the insurer. An independent inspection is something different: a dated, photographed record of the house's condition, made by someone with no stake in how much a claim pays. It is useful whether or not you file, because it tells you what needs repair now, what can wait and what was hidden.

A storm damage visit from us usually covers:

1. The roof surface. Every slope, edge, ridge and penetration, by drone, ladder or on foot depending on the covering, with a photo of each finding.
2. The attic. The underside of the deck, the insulation, the visible connectors, the air handler and the ducts, wherever they can be reached.
3. Ceilings, walls and floors. A room-by-room visual inspection, with moisture meter readings wherever water is suspected.
4. Thermal imaging. A scan of ceilings and outside walls for temperature patterns that suggest moisture, each one checked with a meter.
5. Openings and exterior. Windows, doors, shutters, the garage door, soffits, fascia, stucco and attached structures.
6. The report. Findings with photos, locations and readings, separating what looks recent from what looks long-standing, usually delivered within 24 hours.

What the report is not matters just as much. It is not an adjuster's estimate, it does not put a dollar figure on repairs and it does not say whether your policy covers anything. It is not an engineering evaluation either: if we see signs of structural movement, the report says so and recommends a licensed engineer. Insurers decide claims. A clear inspection report gives everyone involved, including your roofer and your adjuster, the same facts to work from.

If the house was due for a closer look anyway, the storm visit can be combined with a full home inspection or with mold air sampling in the same trip. If samples are taken, the lab report arrives separately, and our guide on how to read mold test results explains what the numbers mean.

Roofer, inspector or public adjuster: who to call after a storm

After a big storm, the phone fills up with offers and door hangers. Knowing who does what helps you call the right person first.

Red flags after a storm

Florida has written several classic post-storm problems into law. Under Section 489.147 of the Florida Statutes, a contractor may not offer a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon or waiver of your insurance deductible in exchange for a roof inspection or for making a claim, and may not interpret your policy or adjust your claim unless licensed as a public adjuster. The same section bars a contractor from asking you to sign a repair authorization without a good-faith, itemized and detailed estimate. For policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, Section 627.7152 also generally bars policyholders from assigning post-loss insurance benefits, so be wary of anyone who asks you to sign your claim over.

The Department of Financial Services adds practical advice: verify the license of any contractor or adjuster, beware of anyone offering help who wants cash only, ask contractors for proof of liability and workers' compensation coverage and do not be in a hurry to sign any contract. Contractor licenses can be checked on the state's licensing portal, myfloridalicense.com, and adjuster licenses through the Department of Financial Services.

Where public adjusters fit

A public adjuster is a licensed insurance professional you can hire to help with your claim, and the state notes that public adjusters charge a fee based on a percentage of the amount recovered from the insurer. Some homeowners never need one; others with large or disputed losses decide to hire one. That choice is yours. An inspector is not a public adjuster and does not negotiate with your insurer: we document the house and leave the claim to you and the people you choose.

Hurricane resources in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach

Most help after a storm comes from three places: your insurer, your county and, after a major disaster, the federal government.

• Your county. Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach each run emergency management offices that post storm updates, shelter information and debris pickup schedules. Your city or county building department issues the permits for permanent repairs.
• The state. The Florida Division of Emergency Management, at floridadisaster.org, coordinates recovery. The Department of Financial Services' Consumer Services Helpline, 1-877-693-5236, answers insurance questions and can help when a claim stalls.
• FEMA. When a federal disaster declaration includes individual assistance for your county, you can apply at DisasterAssistance.gov. FEMA's help is meant for uninsured or underinsured needs and is not a substitute for insurance, and FEMA lists filing a claim with your insurance company among the steps to take before applying.
• Flood insurance. If you carry a flood policy through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private carrier, report flood damage to that insurer separately from wind damage.

Permanent repairs in South Florida come with their own rules. Miami-Dade and Broward are in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone of the Florida Building Code, which sets stricter requirements for roofing and for products such as windows and doors; Palm Beach County is outside it. Ask your contractor which approvals the replacement products carry and keep the paperwork, because the same documents support your next wind mitigation report. If you live in Boca Raton, our guide to what Boca homes show on the wind form covers the city's permit records and association approvals. Once repairs are done, the state's My Safe Florida Home program has offered free hurricane mitigation inspections and grants for qualifying upgrades, but its funding and application windows change, so check mysafeflhome.com for the current status. We work across the three counties, and each city page explains what is typical locally.

Buying a home after hurricane season

Storm repairs are not a reason to walk away from a house. Unfinished or undocumented repairs might be. If you are buying in South Florida after an active season, read the house for signs of recent work and ask about each one:

• Fresh paint on one patch of ceiling, new drywall seams or new baseboards in only part of a room.
• Tiles or shingles that do not match the rest of the roof, a tarp still in place or a new section with no permit on record.
• New flooring only in the lower rooms, or a faint water line on block walls in the garage.
• New A/C equipment or a new electrical panel with no permit history.
• Replaced shutters, windows or a garage door with no product approval paperwork.

Ask the seller whether insurance claims were filed, what was repaired, by whom and under which permits, and ask for the invoices. Florida also requires sellers of residential property to give buyers a flood disclosure at or before the time the contract is signed, and our guide to common South Florida inspection findings explains how inspectors read the signs of past flooding. A buyer's full home inspection looks at the whole house, not only the storm damage. If the house is older, your insurer will likely want a 4-point and a wind mitigation report before binding, and both describe the house as it is on the day of the visit.

Storm damage myths that cost Florida homeowners

• "No leak inside means no roof damage." Creased shingles, cracked tiles and lifted flashing often start leaking weeks later, during the next heavy rain.
• "I can't touch anything until the adjuster comes." Reasonable emergency repairs that prevent further damage are expected. Photograph first, keep receipts and save permanent work for later.
• "Impact windows can't be damaged." Laminated glass can crack while staying in the frame. It protected the house, and it still needs to be replaced.
• "Once it feels dry, it is dry." Wall cavities, insulation and cabinet bases hold water long after the surface feels fine. Measure it.
• "I have years to file." In Florida, notice of a new or reopened claim is due within 1 year of the date of loss, and your policy may require notice much sooner.
• "The contractor will handle the insurance for me." A contractor may not adjust your claim or interpret your policy unless licensed as a public adjuster, and offers to waive your deductible are prohibited.

The bottom line

After a hurricane, the order matters: safety first, then the outside, the attic, the interior and the equipment, with photos at every step. Start drying within the first two days, make only the emergency repairs needed to stop more damage, keep every receipt and report the loss promptly. Florida's statute allows 1 year for notice of a new or reopened claim, but waiting rarely helps. If you want an independent, photographed record of the roof, attic and interior, with moisture readings and thermal imaging, call or text (954) 297-0317 or request a storm damage inspection. We serve Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties 7 days a week, reports usually arrive within 24 hours and you get a firm price before anything is scheduled.

About the author

Peter Lemos, Certified Master Inspector®

Owner and lead inspector of Global Home Inspectors in Hollywood, FL. Peter holds InterNACHI certifications in wind mitigation, 4-point and mold inspection and has served Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties since 2008.