Hurricane season prep: 5 things every Baldwin County homeowner should do in May

Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, with peak activity in August, September, and early October. In Baldwin County, we typically see one to three tropical systems make landfall or graze the coast each season . Most years are quiet. Some years aren't.

May is the month to get ready. The crews aren't slammed with claim work yet, the weather is workable, and your insurance position is easiest to document before anything goes wrong. Here are five things every Baldwin and Mobile County homeowner should knock out before June 1.

1. Get a pre-storm roof inspection

Twenty minutes on the ground and twenty minutes on the roof tells us 99 percent of what we need to know about your roof's current condition. We check the shingle field for granule loss and missing tabs, the flashing for separation, the pipe boots for cracks, the ridge cap for lifted edges, and the gutters for granules washed down.

The inspection is free. If we find something that needs to be fixed before storm season — a cracked boot, a lifted ridge, a missing flashing piece — we'll quote it and you can decide whether to handle it now or roll the dice. Most pre-season fixes run a few hundred dollars. Doing one in October after the storm hits costs a lot more.

2. Document the current condition

This is the part most homeowners skip — and it costs them when a claim comes through. Before storm season, you want a photo set of your roof in its current condition: all four elevations from the ground, gutter close-ups, and ideally a drone or roof-walk overhead set.

Why? Because when an adjuster shows up after a storm, the carrier's first question is “how do we know this damage is new?” Date-stamped pre-storm photos answer that question instantly. We offer a free baseline documentation packet to every customer in May — drone overhead, ground elevations, and a written condition report. Keep it in your storm folder.

3. Check your wind / named-storm deductible

Most Gulf Coast homeowner policies carry two deductibles: a standard deductible (usually $1,000 to $2,500) for non-storm losses, and a higher wind or named-storm deductible that kicks in when a storm is declared by the National Weather Service.

The wind deductible is often expressed as a percentage of your dwelling coverage — commonly 2, 3, or 5 percent . On a $400,000 dwelling, a 5 percent named-storm deductible is $20,000. That changes the math on whether to file a claim. Read your policy now, while it's calm, so the number doesn't surprise you in October.

4. Trim trees away from the roof

Tree limbs over the roof are the single biggest preventable risk in a wind event. A limb that scrapes the shingles in a thunderstorm sands the granules right off. A limb that breaks in a hurricane punches a hole through the deck.

Walk the perimeter of your house. Anything overhanging the roof, or within five feet of it, should be trimmed back. Anything within 20 feet that looks dead, leaning toward the house, or hollowed-out should get a certified arborist's eyes on it. Tree work is far cheaper than roof repair plus interior restoration.

5. Secure loose roof-top items

Walk around your house and look up. Satellite dishes that are loose on their mounts, lifted ridge cap shingles, raised metal vents, unfastened skylight bubbles, hose reels mounted to siding — anything that can become a projectile in 80 mph winds needs to be secured or removed.

For the homeowners with old satellite dishes nobody uses anymore, May is the month to take them down for good. They're a wind risk and a leak risk at the mount.

Build your storm-prep folder

Now is the time to put your storm-prep folder together. Either paper in a drawer or digital in a cloud folder you can access from your phone. Put these inside:

• Your full homeowner policy document — declarations page and policy form
• Your insurance agent's name, direct number, and email
• Your carrier's claim-reporting hotline (different from the agent's office)
• Your policy number and your wind / named-storm deductible
• Pre-storm photos of every elevation of the house, the roof, and the interior of every room (yes, every room)
• A list of your major appliances with model and serial numbers
• Phone numbers for a tarp contractor, an electrician, and a plumber you trust. We're the tarp number — save (251) 406-3624.

If a storm is in the forecast

Once a named storm enters the Gulf, your prep window narrows. In the 72 to 24 hours before landfall, move outdoor furniture inside, clear the gutters (water that can't drain backs up under the shingles), park cars away from trees, and charge every battery you own. Don't climb on the roof in the hours before the storm — you won't find anything you didn't already see in May.

The first 24 hours after a storm

After the storm passes, three priorities: safety, photos, calls.

• Safety first. Don't climb on a wet roof. Watch for downed power lines. If you smell gas, leave and call the utility from a neighbor's.
• Photos before cleanup. Photograph every angle of the house, every piece of debris in the yard, every interior stain, before you move or clean anything. Date-stamped if your phone allows.
• Call your carrier and call us. Open the claim right away. Call us for a tarp — same-day where it's safe to climb . The tarp protects your home and your claim.

The Optimum pre-season offer

Through the end of May, we're doing free pre-storm inspections and free baseline documentation packets for any Baldwin or Mobile County homeowner who calls. No catch and no upsell. We climb the roof, photograph everything, write up the condition, and email you the packet for your storm folder.

If we find something that needs to be fixed, we'll quote it. If we don't, we'll tell you that too. Either way you head into June 1 with a known starting point.

Related reading: storm damage response, insurance claims, and emergency leak repair.