Storm Damage Roofing in St. Augustine, FL

The wind dropped around dawn. There are shingles in the neighbor's yard, a live oak limb across the back corner of the roof, and a wet patch spreading on the bedroom ceiling. The street is still under a few inches of tide. This site connects you by phone with an independent local roofing contractor who handles storm damage in St. Johns County.

What the crew does first

The first job is stopping the water. The crew tarps the open section with a tarp fastened at the deck, not weighed down with bricks, and photographs the damage before and after. Then they walk the whole roof, because the hole you can see is rarely the only damage. Wind creases shingles that will fail next month, lifts ridge caps, opens the seal on pipe boots, and backs fasteners out of metal panels without leaving a mark visible from the ground.

Everything gets written down: which slopes, how many courses, where the underlayment is torn, whether the decking is wet. That written scope with photos is what goes to your adjuster.

What to do in the next hour

Photograph everything from the ground and inside before anything is moved. Get wet furniture and electronics out of the room. If a ceiling is sagging, let the water out at the low point with a screwdriver. If the roof is open and a contractor cannot get there today, a tarp from the hardware store secured at the eave is better than nothing, but do not climb a wet roof to place it, and do not climb at all with a limb still on it.

Call your insurer to open the claim, and write down the claim number. Keep every receipt for tarping and cleanup; reasonable emergency protection costs are normally part of the claim. Do not sign anything from anyone who knocks on the door in the days after a storm.

What is usually saved and what is not

Lifted shingles that are intact go back down with new sealant and fasteners. Creased or torn shingles are replaced by the course from matching stock. Torn underlayment is patched in small areas and replaced across a slope when the tear is long. Wet decking that dries in a few days is usually kept; decking that has delaminated is cut out. A metal panel bent by a limb is replaced, and the panels around it get new fasteners.

A roof with wind damage on every slope, or a roof that was already at the end of its shingle life, becomes a roof replacement conversation. What to document and what to expect from the adjuster is on the insurance claims page.

St. Johns County notes: the storms that made this a habit

Matthew passed just offshore on October 7, 2016, as a Category 3, and the surge, two to seven feet along the coast, put water into the bayfront, Davis Shores, Lincolnville, and Vilano. Irma followed on September 11, 2017, with one to four feet of surge in the same streets. Ian dropped sixteen inches of rain on the island between September 28 and 30, 2022, and Nicole on November 10 took the dunes at Vilano, Summer Haven, and South Ponte Vedra. Helene on September 26 and 27, 2024, flooded Davis Shores, Butler Beach, Treasure Beach, and North Beach, and Milton on October 10 dropped nine to fifteen inches of rain that set a record on Deep Creek and put five feet of water on parts of Hastings and Flagler Estates.

None of those were direct hits. Between them, nor'easters do the quiet roof damage every fall and spring, and the county keeps a record of all of it on its historic hazard events page. After every named storm, out-of-town crews sweep A1A and the subdivisions. Verify a Florida roofing license at myfloridalicense.com before anyone starts, and remember that since January 2023 a contractor cannot take an assignment of your policy benefits.

Calling about storm damage

Have the address, the storm date, your claim number if you have one, and a description of what you can see from the ground: shingles in the yard, a tarp already up, a limb on the roof, water inside. Say whether the home is occupied right now and whether the street is passable. Call (904) 895-7548.