Lightning Damage: 3 Steps to Quickly Get an Insurance Claim Approved

8/18/2021 (Permalink)

Contact the professionals at SERVPRO to restore any lightning damage done to your property!

Lightning damage can happen year-round but is more prevalent in the summer season.

The team at SERVPRO of Downtown Atlanta understands that lightning damage can affect any property without warning. Not only are our professionals ready to help you mitigate the damages caused by lightning, but we will also help you file your property insurance claim. We want to ensure you are fairly compensated for the damages that occurred to your home or business. 

When lightning strikes your property, you first need to contact your property insurance company to file a claim. Your property insurance adjuster will work with you to determine if the lightning strike was covered under your policy and will payout for the damages. 

We have put together this blog post to discuss the typical damages caused by lightning and three steps to ensure your home insurance claim for lightning damage is approved quickly. 

A recent call for lightning damage restoration services

A few weeks ago, our professionals at SERVPRO of Downtown Atlanta received a call from an upset customer after a tree fell on their property. During the initial call, we told the customer that we would be there as soon as possible, and that is what we delivered. We received the call at roughly 7 pm and were on site within thirty minutes. 

While analyzing the damages done to the property, we noticed the damages occurred after lightning struck a tree, causing it to fall on the property. So, to begin the restoration process, we started taking pre-mitigation pictures and creating a plan to ensure that the tree was removed without causing further damages. 

Within a few hours, the tree was removed, and we placed a roof tarp over the holes in the roof to avoid additional damages from occurring. We told the homeowner that we will contact their insurance adjuster after we received their claim number.

Five days after the damages occurred, our insurance estimating professionals and the customer's insurance adjuster agreed on compensation, allowing us to move forward and restore all the damages done to the property. 

In the end, the customer commented on how much they appreciated our fast response time and the quality of their new roof. 

Damages that lightning can cause

A lightning strike near or directly to your property can cause severe damages. The following is a list of damages that can occur:

• Fire and smoke damage
• Power surges 
• Roof damage 
• Water damage 
• Mold damage

The three steps in filing an insurance claim for lightning damage 

When lightning damages happen to a property, you will want to ensure that your insurance claim is processed quickly so that you can start restoring your property. The following list is three ways to ensure that your property insurance claim is processed quickly:

1. Document the lightning damage with pictures and videos
2. Contact your insurer to let them know what happened
3. Hire a reliable and fast-responding restoration company to help restore the property and create an extensive insurance estimate. 

Wrapping up 

We hope you enjoyed learning about the property damages that lightning can cause and the necessary steps to ensure your property damage claim gets processed quickly. 

The professionals at SERVPRO of Downtown Atlanta have handled countless situations where property owners thought they would be compensated for damages done to their property only later to find out that they had to pay out of pocket. Therefore, right now would be a good time to check with your insurer to see if lightning damage is covered. 

When lightning damages your home or business, you should contact our IICRC certified professionals to come out and fix the property damages as if they never happened. SERVPRO of Downtown Atlanta is available 24/7, 365 days, for any questions or concerns regarding storm damage. 

Please contact us today!