Hurricane Season is Upon Us

Hurricane Katrina

The end of summer ushers in the beginning of hurricane season. All across the South-Eastern United States, homeowners and business owners are reviewing their disaster preparedness plans. Over 93% of all hurricanes stronger than a category 3 come during the time period of August thru October. While we all hope the next big storm doesn’t hit their area , or better than that misses the States as a whole, stocks of canned food and water are being readied in many areas. One doesn’t need to be an expert to imagine the sort of damage hurricanes do to buildings. Ripped shingles, flooding, or the complete destruction of a property can result in a direct strike.

Hurricane Damaged Home

After a storm hits, the clean-up begins. Families sift through the debris and businesses take down the plywood and hope to open soon. Electricians work to restore power and road crews clear away any fallen branches or trees. There is another often forgotten side to this: insurance. After a large storm, there can be hundreds of thousands of insurance claims filed. While some of these may be minor like a dent on a car hood or a broken window, some are certainly major. You can board up a window or drive a car with a dent — you can’t live in a home with a gaping hole in the roof.

After these “Catastrophic” incidents happen, insurers and other adjusting agencies send out teams to go out through the neighborhoods and assess the damage. The faster they can assess the damage, the faster a claim can be paid out, and the faster a structure can be repaired. Processing roof claims has always been a slow process after a big storm. Adjusters and roofers had to physically get on a potentially unstable roof and survey it. They had to measure it, write up a report, and spend a few hours looking at a building before damage could be completely assessed.

Utilizing a drone allows for a field inspector or roofer to quickly and safely inspect damage after a storm. A drone is capable of flying and taking hundreds of photos in 10–15 minutes. This means that one person with a drone can hit 15 homes before lunchtime whereas the old method would have resulted in only 4–5 houses being seen all day. Drone footage can be uploaded back to the main center for the insurance agency where policy experts can verify claims and cut checks immediately. Drones reduce costs and help the customer experience following a large storm.

This hurricane season if you live in an area that has the misfortune of being hit by a storm, take a look in the skies above the coming few days. Chances are, this year a drone might just be doing the surveys!