Over the last few days, major weather systems across the country produced violent hail storms resulting in significant property damage in many areas including Denver and Reading, Pennsylvania.
News reports indicate that as many as 40,000 vehicles were parked at the Denver International Airport where hail storms passed through on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, and several hundred claims have already been filed for damage to many of those vehicles.
On May 22, 2014, outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, in Wyomissing, massive hail damaged cars and even shattered a skylight at the Berkshire Mall. Photographs and video below depict some of this damage.
//www.youtube.com/embed/TWDXGQM8Evs?rel=0
The storms this week also produced tornados, flood, thunderstorms and significant winds. Damage has been reported all over the northeast including, but not limited to New York State, Delaware, and Maryland.
With all of the damage reported, thousands of insurance claims are soon to be filed, if they haven’t already. As we all know, the insurance company considers its customers to be “crooks,” (see Chip Merlin’s blog post earlier this week), and many of these claims will be denied or underpaid.
Losses related to hail are being wrongly denied by the insurance carriers as the damage caused may not affect the functionality of the insured property, but may be solely cosmetic. My colleague, Larry Bache, wrote a blog on just this very topic: Carriers Limiting Hail Coverage Across the County – Your Cosmetic Hail Damage May Still be Covered.
If you have suffered damage as a result of these storms, or any storm or catastrophic event, while the damage is fresh, contact a professional public adjuster to assist you in making your claim. It could be the difference in being made whole after your loss, or being left to pick up the pieces by yourself.
As always here’s a (mildly) related tune: Pearl Jam, with Hail, Hail
