Hail
Large hail cracks windows, skylights and vent covers outright, and it bruises shingles in a way that may not leak until a later rain. The immediate calls are the broken openings. The slow ones are covered on the roof leak water damage page.
Urgent? Phones answered 24/7
Storm Damage Restoration in Dallas After Hail, Wind and Tornado Season
Emergency tarping, board-up, water removal and drying after hail, wind or a tornado opens a Dallas house to the rain.
- Phones answered 24/7
- Slab leaks, burst pipes, attic AC leaks
- Emergency price approved before work
- Moisture readings logged for your insurer
Get a fast quote
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Storm Damage
Storm Damage Restoration: what it covers
Quick answer
Storm damage restoration is the emergency work after hail, wind or a tornado lets rain into a building: covering the opening, pulling out the water and drying what it reached. Dallas Water Damage Restoration serves Dallas and Dallas County day and night, and crews are sent out as they become available. Roofing, glass and tree removal belong to other trades.
Start with what can hurt you. A downed power line means calling 911 or the utility and keeping well back, and the same goes for any puddle touching it. Indoors, stay out of standing water that reaches outlets, lamps or appliances, cut a circuit only when the panel is dry and reachable, and keep off a wet, hail-scattered roof. A gas smell means getting out first and phoning from outside.
North Texas storms come in two seasons. Spring carries the heavy hail and the tornado watches, a second season arrives in the fall, and either can open a house to rain within minutes: a window blown in, shingles stripped off a slope, a roof peeled back by a funnel. The opening is what you notice first. What costs money is what the next rain does to the insulation, ceilings and floors beneath it.
That is where this page starts. The crew covers the opening with a tarp or boards, pulls out the water, strips what cannot be saved and dries what remains, then hands you photos and readings for your claim. Fitting a roof, setting glass, cutting up a fallen tree and restoring power are other trades' work. Call (833) 490-5225 and describe what you can see; after a widespread storm the wait for a crew can be longer than anyone would like.
- Service area
- Dallas & Dallas County
- Availability
- Phones answered 24/7, emergencies first
- Typical cost
- $250–$1,200 (estimate)
- Phone
- (833) 490-5225
What do emergency board-up and tarping actually involve?
A tarp or board-up is a temporary cover that keeps rain out of a damaged roof, window or door until the right trade can repair it. It goes on once a crew has reached you and conditions are safe, meaning no lightning and no gusts strong enough to lift sheeting. It buys time. It does not repair anything.
On a roof, a tarp has to run past the damaged area and over the ridge, fastened down with strips rather than weighted with a few bricks, because loose sheeting turns into a sail in the next gust. Windows, sliding doors and garage-door panels get cut plywood fixed from the outside. The crew photographs the damage before covering it, since the adjuster will want to see what the storm actually did.
The cover is a bridge, not a destination. It may stay through several rains if roofers are booked, so check it after every strong wind and call if a corner has lifted. If the slope is steep, high or structurally doubtful, the work may have to wait for crews with the right access equipment, and you will be told that plainly.
Keep the receipt and the before photographs together. Your policy wording says what your insurer expects you to do to limit further damage, and your agent can explain it. The cost range for a cover is in the table above, and the permanent repair is a roofer's quote.
What did the October 2019 tornado show about storm damage in Dallas?
That the damage runs well beyond the funnel. An EF3 tornado crossed north Dallas on October 20, 2019, beginning near Love Field, peaking at an estimated 140 mph and staying on the ground about 15 miles, yet roughly 52,000 Dallas homes lost power and roofs came off in Preston Hollow. Open roofs and dark houses were the practical problem.
It skipped along Walnut Hill Lane toward Central Expressway, badly damaged the High Five interchange area and the corner of Forest Lane and US-75, then carried on across northeast Dallas, passing Richland College before crossing Richardson and parts of Garland. The ground track lasted about 32 minutes, and no deaths were reported. The outbreak's total cost is often reported near $2 billion, which is better treated as a rough guide than an audited number.
For a restoration crew the lesson is the sequence, not the wind speed. A roof can be stripped in minutes, which leaves an attic open to whatever weather follows, with insulation and ceiling board exposed. With power out across a wide area, the order is cover first and dry second, because drying equipment needs electricity and a house cannot be dried without power.
Many large Preston Hollow homes had their roofs torn off. A big roof means more surface to lose and, in a house with a finished upper floor, more finished space under it, so the water from one open slope can reach a bedroom, a hallway and the room below before anyone is back inside.
Why do roofers and restoration crews get overwhelmed after a big storm?
Because one storm damages whole neighborhoods at the same moment, and everyone needs the same few trades in the same week. The 1995 Mayfest hailstorm cost about $2 billion, and the 2016 Wylie hailstorm reached about 80 percent of that city's homes. When demand outruns crews, a temporary cover is what protects the house.
The May 5, 1995 Mayfest storm hit the Fort Worth and Dallas area. Stones as large as 4.5 inches fell across parts of Parker and Tarrant counties, with drifts as deep as three feet, and the damage came to about $2 billion, about $1.1 billion of it insured. It was the first single thunderstorm to cost more than a billion dollars. It is remembered for the Mayfest crowd in Fort Worth, so it is a regional benchmark rather than a record of Dallas County roofs, but it set the scale for what a North Texas storm can do.
On April 11, 2016, a supercell over southeast Wylie produced hail as large as 4.25 inches, which affected about 80 percent of the city's homes, roughly four in every five, and caused more than $300 million in damage. Wylie lies just northeast of the service area. It shows what one supercell can do to a whole town in a single storm.
None of that means a wait of any particular length for you, and nobody can honestly promise an arrival time on a storm day. What can be said is that the phone is answered at any hour, that crews are sent as they become available, and that the first thing worth arranging is the temporary cover, because wet insulation and soaked ceilings from the second rain are the avoidable part of the loss.
Does Texas homeowners insurance cover storm damage?
Your insurer decides whether a policy responds to hail, wind and the rain that follows, under the wording of your own policy. Wind and hail often get a deductible of their own on Texas policies, so check the declarations page. Flood is normally excluded from a standard policy and needs separate cover.
Read the declarations page before you call anyone. It shows the deductible that applies to wind and hail, which can differ from the one for other losses. Then report the damage to your insurer early, with the storm date, even if you are still deciding what to repair.
Where the water came from matters. Rain through a damaged roof is one question for your homeowner insurer. Water that comes in at ground level from a flooded street is flood, and a standard Texas homeowner policy normally excludes it. Flood cover is a separate purchase, from FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program or from a private carrier, and the federal policies generally take 30 days to become effective, so a purchase made as the radar turns red is too late for that storm.
Photographs before anything is moved, a list of what the crew removed and the moisture readings all belong in the claim file. If someone knocks on your door offering to absorb your deductible, Texas Insurance Code Chapter 707 says a contractor may not, and the hail roof leak guide explains that law in full. The Texas Department of Insurance explains it to consumers too.
What can I do myself, and who handles the rest?
Document, contain and stay safe, then hand the rest to the right trade. Photograph the damage, put containers under drips, lift belongings off wet floors and keep everyone out from under sagging ceilings. A roofer, a glass company, a tree service, an electrician and the utility each have a part; the crew covers the opening and handles the water.
Photograph first, with the time stamp left on: the roof line from the ground if it is safe to look, every affected room and any broken glass or fallen limbs. Then contain what is dripping. Put a bucket under an active drip, lift rugs and boxes off wet floors, slide foil or blocks under furniture legs and open the doors of wet cabinets. Leave a swollen ceiling alone and stay out from under it, because wet drywall is heavy and gives little warning.
Power is its own problem. A generator belongs outdoors, well away from windows and doors, never inside the house or an attached garage, because carbon monoxide builds up fast and can be fatal. Tell the dispatcher whether your power is on, since drying equipment draws real current and the plan depends on it. Wet outlets, panels and air handlers are for an electrician or an air-conditioning contractor, and the crew will treat them as live and stay clear.
Keep the trades straight. Roof work, glass and tree removal are other companies' jobs, and Texas has no state general-contractor license, so ask any company that offers to do everything which permits and registrations apply. Cockrell Hill, Highland Park and University Park are cities in their own right, ringed by Dallas, and Irving, Garland and Richardson are separate cities too, so permits depend on the address. Winnetka Heights in Oak Cliff is a Dallas historic district, and its exterior changes pass through the city's historic-preservation review, so ask before repairing anything visible from the street.
Warning signs
Signs you need storm damage restoration
Treat every downed line as live and stay far back, including from puddles and fences near it, and call 911 or the utility. Do not climb onto a roof after a storm, whether to look or to tarp it. Stay out of any room under a sagging or bulging ceiling, keep clear of wet outlets, panels and air handlers, and leave the house if you smell gas.
- Shingles, ridge caps or flashing lying in the yard, or a roof edge that looks ragged against the sky
- A new brown ring or a sagging patch on a ceiling within hours or days of the storm
- Cracked or missing window glass, a broken skylight, or a door that no longer closes square after a wind event
- Dents in the soft metal of vent caps, gutters or the air-conditioning condenser
- Water running from a light fixture, a bath fan or a ceiling vent while it rains
- Daylight or damp, flattened insulation visible from the attic hatch
- A limb or a section of fence lying across the roof or through a window
- Wet carpet along an exterior wall or under a door after wind-driven rain
- A damp, musty smell in a closet or hallway in the days after the storm
Our process
How our storm damage restoration visit works
Check what is unsafe before anyone works inside
Wires, gas, broken glass and sagging ceilings come first. Anything electrical that the water reached is handled as energized until it has been isolated, and downed lines outside stay with the utility and 911. If the structure itself looks compromised, work waits.
Photograph the damage, then cover the opening
The crew photographs the damage before anything is covered, because an adjuster will want to see what the storm did. A tarp then goes over the roof opening, and boards go over broken windows, doors or garage-door panels, once conditions allow safe work.
Extract the water and name it
Standing water comes out of carpet and hard floors. Rain through a roof starts out clean, while water that crossed a yard or came in at ground level is treated as contaminated, and that call is made before anything is dried.
Open up and remove what will not dry
Soaked attic insulation is bagged out, ceiling board that has sagged or lost its texture bond comes down, and pad under wet carpet is removed. Drywall is cut back only where the readings show water inside it.
Dry with the cover in place
Air movers and dehumidifiers go on the wet rooms and the open cavities, with the same marked points read each visit. Drying equipment draws real current, so whether the power is on shapes the plan from the first phone call.
Hand over the record and line up the repairs
You receive photographs, moisture readings plus an itemized rundown of everything removed, all of which you can forward to your insurer. The roofer, glass company or tree service takes over the outside. Interior repairs are quoted separately once the structure reads dry.
Options
Types and options for storm damage restoration
Straight-line wind and tornado winds
Wind lifts and strips shingles, tears back sections of roof and drops limbs through windows. A tornado is the extreme case, but the damage pattern is the same: an open attic, wet insulation and a ceiling that takes the next rain, with the opening often far larger than a leak.
Wind-driven rain through frames and openings
Rain pushed sideways finds window frames, door thresholds, attic vents and the edges of flashing, and it can wet a wall cavity without leaving a stain for days. The wet area is often wider than the visible mark, so it is read with a meter before anyone decides what comes out.
Street and drainage water
A cloudburst can put water through a doorway or garage at ground level, and that is a different loss: contaminated water, a different cleanup and a separate flood policy. The flood damage cleanup page covers it.
Cost
How much does storm damage restoration cost in Dallas?
Storm work is priced in two parts: covering the opening, and dealing with the water that got in before the cover went on. Both are explained to you first. What moves the number is how large the opening is, how hard it is to reach and how far the water traveled below it.
| Job | Typical range | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency board-up or roof tarp | $250–$1,200 | Depends on how large the opening is and how hard it is to reach safely |
| Emergency inspection and moisture assessment | Free–$200 (often credited if work goes ahead) | Meters and a thermal camera go over the ceilings and walls under the opening |
| After-hours, weekend or holiday emergency fee | $100–$300 | Added for calls that arrive overnight, at weekends or on holidays, and stated up front |
| Standing water extraction (per sq ft) | $1.00–$3.50 | Where rain came through a broken window or an open roof onto carpet or hard floors |
| Structural drying for one room (3–5 days, equipment + monitoring) | $800–$2,500 | A bedroom or hallway under a damaged section of roof |
| Ceiling water damage repair (one section, incl. texture + paint) | $450–$1,800 | A repair-stage figure, quoted after the cavity above has dried |
Estimates for Dallas County in 2026. Roofing, window glass, tree removal and electrical repair are billed by those trades and sit outside these rows, and the emergency-stage price is agreed with you before any work begins.
One call and it gets handled.
A crew is dispatched as fast as one is available, and you approve the estimate before any work starts.
Dallas County
Why storm damage restoration is different in Dallas County
The severe-weather calendar here has two peaks. March starts the run, April and May are the heart of it, and October brings a second round, the month of the 2019 tornado. September, in between, is a sensible time to have the roof, the gutters and your shut-off valves checked.
Local damage is easiest to picture along a map. The tornado came down near Love Field, followed Walnut Hill Lane toward Central Expressway and left its worst marks around the High Five interchange and the Forest Lane and US-75 corner. Preston Hollow is large houses on large lots with big roofs, and Northwest Dallas is mostly 1950s to 1970s one-story brick ranch homes, some with older roofs. Both lose the same thing when the wind wins: the cover over the attic.
Water arrives by other routes in the same storms. DFW Airport's gauge logged 9.19 inches in one 24-hour stretch on August 22, 2022, behind only the 9.57 inches of September 4 and 5, 1932, and southeast Dallas reported 15.31 inches. Rain on that scale is a flood question for ground-floor rooms and a roof question for everything above them. The National Weather Service Fort Worth office posts the warnings and the event summaries for Dallas County.
Related
Related services
Roof Leak Water Damage
Interior drying and a temporary tarp after a roof lets rain into a Dallas attic, ceiling or wall. The roof itself goes to a roofer.
Flood Damage Cleanup
Category 3 floodwater cleanup for Dallas slab homes and businesses: removal, cleaning, flood cuts and structural drying.
Ceiling Water Damage
Stains, sags and soaked insulation from attic equipment, hail-worn roofs and upstairs bathrooms, traced, dried and refinished.
Emergency Water Removal
Pumping, extraction and same-visit drying setup for standing water in Dallas homes, apartments and businesses.
Where we work
Storm Damage Restoration across Dallas County
- Storm Damage in Lake Highlands (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Lakewood & East Dallas (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Richardson
- Storm Damage in Garland
- Storm Damage in Mesquite
- Storm Damage in Balch Springs
- Storm Damage in Sunnyvale
- Storm Damage in Pleasant Grove (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in South Dallas & Fair Park (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Downtown & Deep Ellum (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Uptown & Oak Lawn (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Preston Hollow (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Highland Park
- Storm Damage in University Park
- Storm Damage in Northwest Dallas (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in West Dallas (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Irving
- Storm Damage in Cockrell Hill
- Storm Damage in Oak Cliff (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Red Bird & Southwest Dallas (Dallas)
- Storm Damage in Duncanville
- Storm Damage in DeSoto
- Storm Damage in Lancaster
- Storm Damage in Hutchins
- Storm Damage in Wilmer
- Storm Damage in Grand Prairie
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Guides
Read before you book
Hail, Roof Leaks and Water Damage in Dallas Homes
Hail seldom soaks a house on the day it falls.
Flash Flood Cleanup in Dallas County After Heavy Rain
Water that came in from outside is treated as grossly contaminated, so flash flood cleanup is removal and cleaning first and drying second.
FAQ
Storm Damage Restoration FAQs
Can a crew tarp my roof while it is still raining?
Not safely. A wet slope is slick, and lightning or gusting wind makes working on a roof dangerous for anyone. The crew covers the opening once conditions allow, and until then your job is to contain the water inside, move belongings and keep the photographs coming.
Should I wait for the adjuster before the tarp goes on?
No. Photograph the damage thoroughly, tell your insurer, and let the cover go on so the next rain does not add to the loss. The crew photographs the opening before covering it, and the readings and the removed-materials list go into the same file. Your agent can tell you how your own policy handles that.
A limb has come down through my roof. Who does what?
A tree service removes the limb once it is safe to do so, and nobody should stand under it until then. The crew covers the hole, extracts the water and dries the room, and a roofer repairs the roof. Where the limb brought down a line, the utility has to deal with it first.
How long can a tarp stay on the roof?
A tarp is meant to last until a roofer can repair the roof, and after a widespread storm that wait can be long. Check it after each strong wind, look for lifted corners and pooled water, and call if anything has moved. Nobody should treat it as a permanent answer.
Will a storm leak leave mold in my attic?
It might, and it might not. The EPA calls drying within 24 to 48 hours a guideline, not a deadline, and notes that mold may have grown even when materials were dried inside that time, so readings matter more than a clock. Should growth turn up, Texas puts mold assessment and remediation under TDLR licensing from 25 contiguous square feet, and one license holder cannot do both on a project.
Is rain through a window frame the same as a flood?
No, and the difference matters for coverage. Rain entering through the house is one question for your homeowner insurer. Water rising from the street or a creek is flood, which needs a separate policy. Ask your agent how your policy draws that line before a storm rather than after.
Does the crew work on detached garages and sheds?
Generally yes, since the cover, extraction and drying work is the same on a detached garage, a workshop or a shed. How your policy treats those structures is a separate question for your agent, so photograph them with the same care as the house.