Storm Damage, Any Season
In the Pine Belt the most common way a storm gets inside a house is not the wind on the shingles. It is a pine or a water oak that has stood over the roof for decades and finally comes down in wet ground.
Safety first, then keeping the rain out, then the photographs, then the question of who takes the tree off and what the policy usually treats differently.
Tree on the house now?
Stay out of the rooms under it and call {{PHONE}}. A person answers at any hour, and we can talk through the next step while you stand somewhere safe.
When the January 2017 tornado crossed into Petal, the National Weather Service survey noted that "impressive tree damage occurred along Old Richton Road and Tyroby Lane." That short line stands for a long list of houses with a trunk across the roof, a broken ridge and a ceiling on the bedroom floor.
A tree on the house is two problems at once: a heavy object sitting on a damaged structure, and an opening that lets the next rain in. This page takes them in the right order.
A tree that has hit a house is often still moving, still loaded, or lying on something live.
Rafters and ceiling joists that took the impact can let go hours later, especially once the tree soaks up rain and gets heavier. Close the doors to those rooms and stay out.
Trees in this part of the state take service drops and power lines down with them. The Mississippi Insurance Department’s claims guide asks you first to make sure "there are no safety issues like downed electrical lines or broken gas lines," and to leave if there are. Treat every wire in the branches as live and call the power company from a safe distance.
A falling tree can pull a meter or a line on the side of the house. If you smell gas, get everyone out, leave the lights and switches alone, and call the gas company and 911 from outside.
A trunk resting on a roof is under tension, and a cut in the wrong place can drop it through the ceiling or swing it at the person holding the saw. Removal is a job for a tree crew with the right equipment.
The tree is the dramatic part. The water is the part that decides the size of the repair.
Once the roof deck is broken, every rain soaks the insulation, then the ceiling drywall, then the walls and floors below. The state’s claims guide asks homeowners to "try to prevent further damage by making essential repairs, like covering roofs, or windows with plywood, tarp, canvas, or other waterproof materials." With a tree still on the roof, that tarp often has to go on around the trunk, and the full cover goes on the day the tree is lifted off.
Inside, get furniture and boxes out of the wet rooms, pull back rugs, and put a bucket under each drip. Wet drywall and insulation that are dried or removed within a day or two are a small part of the claim. Left for a rainy week, they become a mold problem and a much larger one. Our crews tarp, extract and dry, and the water damage restoration work is documented room by room for the adjuster.
Keep every receipt
The Insurance Department’s guide prints it in capitals: "KEEP ALL RECEIPTS FOR EMERGENCY REPAIRS TO GIVE TO YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY." That includes the tarp, the crew who set it, and the hotel if you cannot sleep at home.
Once the tree is off the house, nobody can see how it landed. Take the pictures while it is still there. The Insurance Department says to "Photograph the damage to your property in order to assist in filing an insurance claim," and the order below gives an adjuster the whole story.
Your own policy is the authority here. These are questions to put to your agent, not rules.
When wind brings a tree down onto the house, ask your agent how your homeowners policy treats the damage to the house and the cost of getting the tree off the structure. Policies differ on both, and some set a separate limit for tree removal.
A tree that comes down and touches nothing, or only lands across the lawn, may be handled differently from a tree that hits the house, and removal may not be covered. Ask your agent before you hire a crew to haul it away.
If a neighbor’s tree lands on your house, call your own insurer first and ask how it will be handled. The condition of the tree beforehand can matter, which is one more reason to photograph the stump.
Do not have permanent repairs made before the insurer has seen the damage; the Insurance Department says plainly, "Don’t have permanent repairs made until your insurance company has inspected the property." Taking the tree off to stop more damage, tarping and drying are not permanent repairs. Our page on how a claim works in Mississippi covers the rest of the sequence.
A street full of trees on houses brings trucks within a day, and some of them are good crews. Others want the whole price up front. The Insurance Department warns against contractors "who demand upfront payment before work is initiated or payment in full before work is completed." Read checking a contractor before you sign, and pay by check or money order with a receipt.
After the cleanup, look at what is left standing near the house. Mississippi State University Extension’s storm resistant trees publication rates 80 trees and shrubs for wind, ice and flood. Its feature on the subject says species that hold up to ice "generally have strong branch attachment, flexible branches, low branch surface area and straight trunks," and that some trees, including live oak and crape myrtle, "defoliate in extreme winds, which increases their chances of survival." A tree that lost half its crown, leans toward the house or cracked at the base is worth a professional opinion while the weather is calm.
We would not. A trunk on a roof is loaded in ways that are hard to read from the ground, and a wrong cut can drop it through the ceiling. Tarp what you can reach safely from the ground or the inside, then let a tree crew lift it.
Call your own insurer first, then let the companies sort out the rest. Photograph the stump and the tree where it landed before anything is moved.
Not if leaving it there lets more water in or puts the structure at risk. Photograph everything first, keep the receipts, and tell your insurer what you did and why. What waits for the adjuster is permanent repair.
Tell us where the tree landed and whether rain is getting in. A person answers 24 hours a day, every day of the year.