On the Delmarva Penninsula, severe weather can hit at any time and is often unpredictable. As we’ve seen recently through the month of August, what starts as a light rain can quickly turn into a severe storm and leave lasting damage on your property.

August is the beginning of Hurricane Season, which means get ready for continued wind, hail, lightning, and overall unpredictable weather. However, a storm doesn’t have to be classified as a hurricane or tornado to cause serious damage to your property. Some of the worst damage can be caused by what was supposed to start out as light rain.

The Delmarva seems to be consistently hit with unpredictable weather throughout the month of August, with recent reports of thunderstorms, lightning strikes, and hail. On August 19, 2019, the National Weather Service sent out a warning to Delaware and Maryland beaches to watch out for winds up to 60 mph with possible quarter-sized hail. As the storms rolled in, beachgoers forged the land for safety and Delmarva Power reported a handful of power outages across southern Delaware. The storms hit the Delaware and Maryland coast again on August 21, 2019, when a severe thunderstorm watch was issued with a prediction of torrential rain, local flooding, and high winds.

At Staples & Associates, we firmly believe in educating our client’s so they can fully understand the potential damages that a severe thunderstorm can cause, and the extent to which their plan covers in the event of a possible storm.

What is a Severe Thunderstorm?

In order for a thunderstorm to be considered severe, it must create at least one of the following; hail that is the one-inch diameter or larger, or winds of 58 mph or greater. Thunderstorms also inherently have lightning in them. The winds produced by severe storms can often be strong enough to do serious damage to your property, but not fast enough to be considered a tornado or hurricane. These wind gusts that rotate in a circle or hit your property in a straight-line can often be strong enough to knock down trees and are capable of being just as dangerous as tornadoes causing just as much damage!

Hail is also a dangerous product of thunderstorms, as the residents of Dewey beach saw earlier this month with 4 damaging hail reports during their last severe thunderstorm. Hail is created when small ice particles and super-cooled water droplets are cycled through a storm to create hailstones. While these hailstones can grow to be the size of a grapefruit in extremely rare conditions, it only takes a hailstone the size of a U.S. quarter to be considered severe and damaging. And whether or not you can see the lightning in a severe thunderstorm, when you hear thunder you are in danger of your property being stuck. Lightning can cause maximum damage to your home and specifically the HVAC unit and affects over 200,000 people each year.

Is Severe Thunderstorm Damage Covered By Homeowners Insurance?

If your home is damaged by a severe thunderstorm, the damage is generally covered by homeowner’s insurance policies and does not require a separate endorsement. However, it is always best that you check with your insurance agent for specifics to make sure that your property is covered in the event of a storm. In order for your business or automobile to be covered by damage caused by a severe thunderstorm, please check your individual policies.

At Staples & Associates, we pride ourselves on having expert agents on staff that spend their time getting to know each and every one of our client’s needs and individual exposures.

Contact an agent today to make sure that you are fully covered in the event of severe weather!