Storm Damage Cleanup in Des Moines
Severe thunderstorm, hail, and wind damage with water intrusion: board-up coordination, extraction, and drying.
Severe Weather Season Is a Spring Guarantee
From April through July, central Iowa runs a steady gauntlet of severe thunderstorms, and the metro takes damage three ways: hail and straight-line wind that open roofs, torrential rain that pours through whatever opened, and flash flooding that fills window wells, basement stairwells, and sump pits faster than pumps can keep up. The May 21, 2024 outbreak put flash flooding across central Iowa the same day tornadoes devastated communities to the southwest. The June 30, 2018 storm dropped more than eight inches of rain on parts of the metro overnight. The August 2020 derecho showed what an hour of hurricane-force straight-line wind does to roofs across an entire region.
Wind opens the building; water does the damage. Rain through a lifted shingle field or a breached window tracks through attic insulation, down wall cavities, and across ceilings, and it keeps moving for hours after the storm passes. Basements add a second front: a window well that fills like a bathtub pushes water through the frame long before the yard looks flooded, and a power outage at the height of the storm silences the sump pump exactly when it is needed most.
Stabilize First, Rebuild Second
The emergency phase is about stopping continued intrusion and drying everything that got wet: tarping and board-up coordination, extraction of standing water, controlled removal of saturated ceiling material and soaked insulation before it sags and collapses, and commercial structural drying. Permanent roof and siding repairs come after the adjuster's inspection, but mitigation cannot and should not wait for it; your policy requires reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and mitigation costs are generally covered. Photograph everything before and during, keep receipts, and let the crew's moisture documentation anchor the claim.
Be cautious with door-knockers after hail. Central Iowa is a storm-chase market, and out-of-state roofing crews follow the hail maps into the metro every spring, collect deposits, and are gone by fall. Get the scope in writing, take your time with anything that assigns insurance benefits, and prefer operations that can show local accountability. A licensed, locally answerable crew, busy as it may be after a storm, is worth the wait of a phone call.
Filing a claim? Read the Iowa water damage insurance claim guide before you call your carrier.
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Storm Damage Cleanup: Common Questions
Rain is still coming in. Can a crew come during the storm?
Crews dispatch as soon as conditions are safe to work, often before the line of storms fully clears. Call as soon as you know you have intrusion; queue position is set by call time, and interior containment and extraction can sometimes start while the weather is still moving through.
Which policy covers what after a big storm here?
As a rule of thumb: wind or hail damage and the rain that enters through the opening it created, your homeowners policy; rising water from outside, a separate flood policy only; water backing up through drains or a failed sump during the storm, the water backup endorsement if you bought one. The cause-and-path documentation the mitigation crew creates keeps each claim in its correct lane.
Should I make temporary repairs myself?
Reasonable emergency measures, like tarping an opening you can safely reach from a ladder on firm ground, are encouraged by insurers and covered as mitigation. Keep receipts and photos. Skip anything involving a wet roof, lightning still in the area, sagging ceilings, or standing water near power.
Areas We Serve Around Des Moines
Our local partner network covers Des Moines and the surrounding communities. Crews are dispatched from the closest available location, 24 hours a day.