Florida isn’t well known for tornados. At least not like the plains, anyway. But Florida is well known for it’s powerful thunderstorms, which produce heavy rains, high winds, lightning, and can even on occasion produce hail and tornados, any of which are capable of causing significant damage to residential homes and commercial properties.

If you’ve been on the receiving end of any of these storm related damages, contacting a public adjuster like VIP Adjusting as early in the process is going to be a pivotal step to maximizing your insurance recovery.

For the purpose of making an insurance claim for property damage, tornado damage isn’t all that different from hurricane damage, with the exception that a tornado is often more highly concentrated energy with more localized damage. For that reason, though, insurance companies have more ability to dispute damages. 

The public adjusters at VIP Adjusting have handled a number of tornado and microburst insurance claims throughout Florida and have seen some of these issues first hand, both in terms of the damages, and the problems that arise when dealing with your insurance company. 

Tornados can cause sporadic damage and may level a home without touching the house across the street. Sometimes, a house that seems untouched presents damage in other ways that are not always apparent to the naked eye.

Many times, when VIP Adjusting handles claims for tornado damages, it works with forensic meteorologists, as well as using the latest technologies to make sure the presentation of damages to the insurance company is clear. 

There are also often structural damages when a tornado touches down, sometimes readily apparent, and other times hidden. As part of these claims, we tend to coordinate with engineers as part of our evaluation, as well. 

If the home is uninhabitable or there are structural damages, you may also have a claim for additional living expenses while the home is not livable and until the repairs have been completed. 

Florida tornados pose another significant risk to the lives of a home’s inhabitants, as Florida properties are relatively well known for not having basements. Florida’s building codes for hurricane preparedness mitigate some of this risk by requiring homes to be build to higher standards than across much of the nation but this isn’t always the case.

If you find yourself facing a tornado warning, seek shelter in a concrete building if possible, stay away from windows, and often, an interior bathroom is the safest location to weather the storm. 

Once you’ve made it through and everyone is safe, then it’s time to evaluate your damage and make sure everything is in order to present to your insurance company.