Hurricane Damage Repair on Long Island

A hurricane or a strong tropical storm does three different kinds of damage to a Long Island house, and they need three different responses. Wind takes the roof edge, the ridge, the gable-end siding and anything that stands up into it. Trees — the oaks and pitch pines that have had sixty years to grow over the 1960s housing — come down on roofs, garages, cars and the overhead service drop. And water rises: on the South Shore from the Great South Bay up the creeks and canals, on the North Shore from the Sound into the harbour villages, and inland from rain that has nowhere to go. Most houses get one of the three. The bay-front and canal houses get all three at once.

Alec's Construction is based on Barton Avenue in East Patchogue and handles hurricane and storm damage across Suffolk County — the tree, the water, the roof, the siding, the interior, the cleanup and the rebuild — as one job on one scope. This guide is what we tell homeowners on the phone after a storm.

What Wind Does to a Long Island House

Wind does not lift a roof from the middle. It gets under the edges — the first courses at the eave, the ridge cap, the rake edge at the gable — and works inward. On a 1960s split or ranch the low-slope roof over the garage wing goes first because its shingles have the least overlap and the most exposure. On a two-storey colonial the long, straight roof planes on the windward side lose shingles in sheets once the first course is gone. Siding fails at the gable ends, where the wall is tallest and the wind hits it broadside, and vinyl unlocks and peels in runs from wherever one panel let go. Then the rain gets in behind all of it — into the soffit, over the top plate and down inside the wall, through the exposed decking into the attic and the ceiling below.

What Trees Do

Long Island's residential trees are mostly one of two things: red and white oaks, which shed heavy limbs and occasionally come over whole when the ground is saturated; and pitch pines, which have a shallow spreading root plate and a tall thin trunk and uproot or snap in any sustained wind. Both are now standing directly over roofs that were built when the trees were saplings. A limb through the roof is a hole and a repair. A whole tree on the roof is a structural event — the rafters, the ridge, sometimes the wall — and the order in which it is removed decides whether the roof survives the removal. Nobody cuts anything until the structure has been looked at.

Where the Water Comes From

On the South Shore the water is surge. A south or southeast wind pushes the Great South Bay up every creek, canal and river at once and over the bulkheads onto the low streets south of Montauk Highway — Lindenhurst, West Islip, Babylon, Bay Shore, Islip, Sayville, Patchogue, East Patchogue, Bellport, Shirley. On the North Shore it is the Sound pushed by a northeast wind into the harbour villages — Port Jefferson, Northport, Huntington — where the downtowns sit at the foot of the hills. Inland — Medford, Coram, Farmingville, Holbrook, Ronkonkoma, Commack, Smithtown — there is no tidal water and the flooding is rain: basements, window wells and the low corner of the lot.

Surge water is salt water, and salt water is a different cleanup from rain. It leaves salt in the framing and on every electrical connection it touched, and the wiring and devices that sat in it are replaced, not dried.

The Order of Work

• Make it safe. Nobody goes under a tree on a roof or into a room with a sagging ceiling until it has been looked at. Downed lines are the utility's, and they get called first.
• Photograph everything as found. Before a limb is cut or a wet carpet is pulled. This is what both claims rest on.
• Stop the water. Tarp the roof, board the openings, pump and pull the wet material that will grow mould if it stays.
• Dry and document. Drying equipment in, moisture readings taken and kept.
• Write the scope line by line with the photographs attached, storm damage kept separate from wear, wind damage kept separate from flood damage.
• Rebuild to the agreed scope, and correct what let the storm in so it does not repeat.

Homeowners Policy, Flood Policy and the Hurricane Deductible

Wind damage, and the rain that came in through it, is a homeowners claim. A tree on the house is a homeowners claim, and most policies pay something toward removing that tree, up to a limit that varies by policy. Water that rose — from the bay, a canal, a creek or a river — is a flood claim under a separate flood policy, whether National Flood Insurance Program or private, and the homeowners policy generally excludes it. Many coastal New York policies also carry a hurricane deductible that is a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat figure, and it applies when a named hurricane triggers it. We do not adjust claims; we document and scope the damage so the adjuster sees what the storm did, and we tell you which of the three buckets each item belongs in before you file.

Storm Chasers

After every hurricane, out-of-state crews arrive on Long Island, knock on doors in the worst-hit streets, and ask homeowners to sign an assignment of benefits or pay a deposit at the door. Some do adequate work. Many are gone before it is finished, and none are here when the roof leaks again in two years. Ask for a local address and a local phone number. Ask how long they have worked on Long Island. Do not sign anything at the door. We are on Barton Avenue in East Patchogue and we have worked Suffolk County since 2018.

Town by Town

What a hurricane does depends on where the house is. We have written a page for each of the Suffolk towns we cover most, with the specific exposure, tree stock and building department for each: Patchogue, East Patchogue, Medford, Bellport, Sayville, Holbrook, Bay Shore, Islip, West Islip, Ronkonkoma, Smithtown, Port Jefferson, Babylon, Lindenhurst, Commack, Huntington, Northport, Farmingville, Shirley, Coram.

Free walkthrough anywhere in Suffolk County, and if the roof is open or a tree is on the house, call rather than fill in the form.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the first thing to do after hurricane damage?

Make sure nobody is under or near anything that could still fail — a tree on the roof, a sagging ceiling, a downed line, standing water near electrical. Call the utility for lines and gas. Then photograph everything exactly as it is before anyone moves a branch or pulls a wet carpet, because those photographs are what both the homeowners and the flood claim rest on. Then call a local contractor to stop the water.

Does homeowners insurance cover hurricane damage on Long Island?

Wind damage and the rain that came in through it, yes, subject to the policy's hurricane deductible, which on many coastal New York policies is a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat figure. A tree on the house, yes, usually with a limit on the tree removal itself. Water that rose from the bay, a canal or the ground, no — that is flood damage under a separate flood policy, and the homeowners policy excludes it.

How long does hurricane damage repair take?

Emergency tarping and drying start the day we can reach you. The claim takes as long as the adjuster takes, which is the variable. The rebuild — a roof, a room, a re-side — is days to weeks once the scope is approved and the materials are on site. Houses that took surge water take longest because the drying has to be finished and measured before anything is closed.

Do you handle the tree, the roof and the inside, or do I need separate companies?

One call. The tree removal and the structural repair are the same job — the tree has to come off in an order that does not drop the roof — and the roof, the siding, the interior and the cleanup follow on the same scope. One crew and one point of contact, and one document for the adjuster.

Related Guides

• What to Do in the First 48 Hours After Hurricane Damage
• Storm Cleanup and Debris Removal on Long Island
• Flood Cleanup After a Hurricane on Long Island
• Hurricane & Storm Damage Repair — our service page
• A Tree Fell on Your House
• Storm Damage Insurance Claims on Long Island
• Water Damage Restoration on Long Island

Work With Alec's Construction

This guide is written by the crew that does the work. See Alec's Hurricane & Storm Damage Repair service — fallen trees, flooding, roof and siding damage, cleanup and the rebuild. One crew start to finish, free walkthrough and a written estimate inside 48 hours.

Booking the cold months now: we also handle Roofing and Storm Damage & Insurance Restoration.