While Texas continues to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, hail season is quickly approaching. While it is true that hail can develop any time of year, spring is traditionally when large hail events have hit Texas.
A quick review of the past six years of data from the National Weather Service shows multiple catastrophic hail storms in springtime that have caused billions of dollars in property damage:
- March/April of 2012 – McAllen/Edinburg/Mission area baseball size hail and 70 mph winds. Estimates of property damage top $600 million.
- May of 2013 – Amarillo was hit with baseball sized hail that caused $500 million in damage to property.
- June of 2014 – Abilene was hit with baseball size hail that caused an estimated $400 million in damage.
- April of 2015 – The Fort Worth area was hit with hail as large as softballs.
- April of 2016 – Lubbock was hit with hail up to the size of tennis balls.
- April of 2016 – North Texas area from Tyler to Wichita Falls with some areas getting 5-inch hail. Reports in Wylie Texas showed 80% of homes damaged. Total damage estimated at over $300 million.
- April of 2016 – San Antonio reported 3.5-inch to 4.5-inch hail. Total estimated damage around $1.4 billion.
- April of 2017 brought the Rio Grande Valley golf ball sized hail with some reporting hail up to 3.5 inches.
Hail can be devastating to a home or business. As an example, baseball size hail at 70 mph is the equivalent of one of the World Champion Houston Astros pitchers standing on the mound and firing change-ups at your property—or more accurately all of the pitchers throwing pitches at the same time over a period of up to thirty minutes.
Many insurance policies contain separate deductibles for hail and windstorms. Some policies contain exclusions for roof damage or roof payment schedules that limit your ability to get the full costs of repair for your home. Read your insurance policy and all the endorsements and exclusions that apply and if you have any questions give us a call. As this blog has chronicled in prior posts, the law in Texas has changed as it relates to hail damage with all claims requiring specific procedural steps before filing suit.