The first 72 hours
1. Safety first. Do not send employees onto a damaged roof. Watch for sagging ceilings, wet electrical and loose debris.
2. Stop the water. A temporary dry-in, tarping or emergency patch limits damage to insulation, inventory and equipment. Most policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent more damage. Keep receipts.
3. Document it. Photos and video of the roof, ceilings, walls, floors and anything wet, with dates. Note when the storm hit.
4. Report the claim. Call your agent, insurer or TWIA promptly. Write down your claim number and every person you talk to.
Why a roofer's inspection before the adjuster helps
Adjusters are busy after a big storm on the coast. A commercial roofer who documents the damage with photos, measurements and core samples gives you a clear record of what happened to the roof, so less gets missed.
On large flat roofs, damage is often hidden: wet insulation under an intact-looking membrane, torn seams, lifted edge metal, or hail bruising you cannot see from the ground.
Temporary repair vs permanent repair on the Texas coast
TWIA says temporary repairs after a storm do not need a windstorm certificate. The permanent repair is different: repairing a significant portion of a roof, or replacing it, needs to meet the windstorm code and get a WPI-8 certificate from the Texas Department of Insurance.
Plan for this from the start so your final repair keeps the building insurable.
Storms the Coastal Bend has seen
Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport in 2017, and Hurricane Hanna hit Padre Island in 2020. Hail and strong summer storms hit Corpus Christi too. Buildings here should be ready for wind and hail every season, not just after the next big one.
A note on insurance
We are roofers, not lawyers or public adjusters. Your policy, your agent and, if needed, an attorney are the right sources on coverage and deadlines. What we do is document the roof damage clearly, make it watertight, and build the permanent repair to code.