How to protect your home from extreme weather conditions

When most people think about July and August, hot summer weather comes to mind.
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But the truth is, it’s the peak season for summer storms that can cause damage to homes and vehicles. Whether you face floods or hail storms, use these tips as well as car and home insurance to stay protected.

Protection Tips

These helpful tips can help protect your belongings from windstorms, rainstorms and hail damage:

  1. Clean out your eaves troughs and downspouts.
  2. Ensure downspouts extend from your home at least six feet or set up a rain barrel to catch water runoff.
  3. Seal any visible cracks in driveways, walkways or patios.
  4. Look for any cracks, seepage or leaks in the foundation, crawl space or basement or your home and repair them.
  5. Ensure the soil around your home slopes away from the foundation.1
  6. Review your insurance policy to see what coverage exists in regards to hail and wind damage.
  7. Park your vehicle in a covered area. If that’s not an option, cover your car with a thick blanket to help minimize the impact of the hail.
  8. Try to avoid driving your car in the hail. Motion only increases hail’s impact.
  9. Inspect your roof regularly to keep it free from defects.
  10. Install coverings for your roof and skylights and protective shields for equipment like HVAC units.
  11. Close all windows and doors during a storm and consider installing impact-resistant shutters over large glass windows and doors.
  12. Ensure you secure or relocate any furniture or other belongings in your yard. The high winds that accompany storms can turn these objects into projectiles.
  13. If you’re replacing your roof, use materials that can help reduce damage to your home.
  14. Subscribe to severe weather alerts so that you can know when and where a storm is about to hit.2

Resistant Roofing Materials

These roofing materials are proven to offer added protection.

Hail Suppression Program Sponsorship

In the western provinces, Intact Insurance works closely with the Alberta Severe Weather Management Society (ASWMS) in an effort to reduce hail damage. Using a Hail Suppression Program, planes are dispatched at the onset of a developing storm to seed the clouds and therefore reduce the size of the hail. Weather radar systems can signal planes at multiple airports to fly into action when a possible storm is identified.3

Intact’s specialized programs

Intact Insurance has created special programs and insurance coverage to better serve consumers in the wake of climate change. For example, we separated the hail and wind deductible from home insurance policies to provide our customers with added flexibility and convenience.

Wherever your home is in the country, Intact can help to ensure you’re properly prepared for summer storm season.

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