Post-storm home checklist — first 48 hours after a hurricane hits Florida

The first 48 hours after a storm hits your home are when most of the avoidable damage happens. Not from the storm itself — from doing the right things in the wrong order, or doing nothing while waiting for someone to tell you what to do.

This is the order. Follow it.

Hour 0–2: safety check before entering

Don’t go inside until you’ve ruled out three things:

• Gas smell. If you smell gas, the source could be a damaged supply line, a dislodged water heater, or an exterior tank leak. Get out, call the gas company from outside, don’t operate any electrical switches.
• Exposed electrical wires. Storms knock down service lines and tear wiring out of walls. If you see exposed conductors — especially anything you can’t tell is dead — assume it’s live. Call the power company.
• Visible structural failure. Sagging ceilings, leaning walls, water-soaked structural members. If anything looks wrong, get a structural inspection before re-entering.

If the damage is severe or anything is uncertain, wait for first responders or a structural professional. The house can wait.

Hour 2–4: photograph everything, time-stamped

Before you move a single piece of debris, take a complete photo and video record. Slowly. Methodically.

• Walk the entire house and photograph each room from multiple angles, including damaged areas in close-up and wide-shot context.
• Walk the exterior, photographing roof damage from the ground (don’t go up — wait for professionals), broken windows, ripped screens, damaged siding, fallen branches against the house, debris.
• Open closets and cabinets to photograph soft goods, electronics, anything potentially affected by humidity.
• Email all photos to yourself so they’re cloud-backed.

The hardest part of a Florida hurricane insurance claim is proving what was there before. These photos are what your claim runs on.

Hour 4–24: stop continuing damage

A roof leak that drips for 6 hours soaks 6 hours’ worth of ceiling drywall and contents. A 24-hour broken window lets rain blow into the house all night. The damage from the storm is fixed; the damage from delayed mitigation is on you.

Priorities:

• Tarp anything actively leaking. Roof leaks first.
• Board broken windows or doors. Keep weather and looters out.
• Move undamaged contents away from wet areas. Sofas, mattresses, electronics off the wet floor.
• Start fans and dehumidifiers in wet rooms to slow mold growth.

Our 24/7 emergency service and hurricane damage repair lines handle tarps and board-ups across St. Johns County. The schedule fills fast in the first 48 hours after a major storm — call early.

Day 1–2: call your insurance carrier

File the claim within 24 hours if possible. Have ready:

• Your policy number
• The photos you took
• A brief description of the damage

Most carriers will:

• Assign a claim number on the phone (write it down)
• Schedule an adjuster within 1–7 days
• Authorize emergency mitigation up to a dollar limit before the adjuster sees the damage
• Direct you to specific mitigation contractors on their preferred list (you don’t have to use them but you can)

Don’t sign anything for permanent restoration until the adjuster has documented damage and approved scope.

Day 1–7: avoid the storm-chasers

Within 48 hours of a major Florida landfall, out-of-state contractors arrive in damaged neighborhoods. Matching shirts, branded trucks, clipboards. They knock door-to-door offering to “handle insurance” or “inspect for damage.” Some are legitimate national restoration firms. Many are fly-by-night operators.

Verify any contractor before signing:

• Local physical address that you can drive to. Not a P.O. box. Not “based out of [city]” with no address given.
• Current Florida state license for licensed work — verify the license number at myfloridalicense.com. Takes 60 seconds. Confirms the license is active and matches the company name.
• Certificate of insurance, current dates, real carrier name.
• References from neighbors — if they’ve worked nearby, they should be able to put you in touch with someone whose home you can see.
• Reasonable deposit structure — never pay the full job upfront. Materials deposits are normal; full payment up front isn’t.

If a contractor pressures you to sign immediately, “before the storm prices go up,” or to sign an Assignment of Benefits without time to read it — walk away.

For our position vs general contractors, see the comparison. We do tarps, board-ups, water-damage drywall, and exterior trim repair within our scope. For major restoration requiring permits — roof replacement, structural framing, full re-wiring — we refer to specific licensed local contractors we’ve worked with.

Day 3+: sequence of permanent repairs

Once the adjuster has approved scope, repairs happen in a strict order:

1. Water-source fixes first — roof, broken pipes, exterior breaches. If you skip this and start drywall, the new drywall gets ruined the next time it rains.
2. Drying and dehumidification — typically 3–7 days with industrial fans and commercial dehumidifiers. Skipping or shortening this step is the #1 cause of mold problems six months later.
3. Drywall, ceiling, and texture work — only after the framing reads dry on a moisture meter. Our drywall page covers the patching, texture matching, and paint blend.
4. Finish work — paint, flooring, trim, fixtures. Last because everything before this still has dust and dirt potential.

Doing these out of order is the most common reason a hurricane-restoration project ends up costing twice as much as it should — you end up redoing finished work.

How to reach us

If you’re in St. Johns County and have storm damage, our 24/7 emergency line is (904) 871-5791. We answer the phone day and night during storm response. Most homes in our service area we reach within 24–48 hours after a major landfall, prioritized by severity.

For the planning phase before a storm hits, see our pre-hurricane checklist.