At Gallagher, we know that your Home needs to be protected especially with weather likely to get worse over the coming months. As home owners, we should take special care to protect our homes against potential damage resulting from storms and / or flooding. It’s more important than ever to assess your current Home Insurance policy to ensure that your house is accurately covered.
Geraldine Kelly, Head of Operations, Personal Lines at Gallagher in Ireland said: “As the likelihood of extreme weather events increases, it is incredibly important to ensure that your home is protected against damage. Extreme weather events can end up being costly if individuals are not correctly insured.”
“Ahead of disruptive weather, people can take a range of preventative measures such as ensuring garden furniture is stored away, keeping doors and windows tightly locked and making sure gutters and drains are kept clear.
“An insurance broker can work with you to help you find the insurance cover that best suits your needs and circumstances so that you are appropriately covered. Weather damage can be very distressing, so it is always worth protecting your home, even when you do have suitable insurance cover in place.”
Measures you can take to protect your home:
Regular maintenance can help make your home as secure as possible and minimise the extent of damage following a flood or storm. Some of the measures you can take are:
- Make sure you have no loose, cracked or missing tiles, and that your aerial and chimney is secure.
- Before a flood, ensure that gutters and pipes are clear by cleaning out debris, such as dead leaves, that gathers.
- Make sure that fences are securely in place so that they are not blown away during a storm – fences can cause significant damage if they fly into homes or sheds.
- Check your windows and electricity cables to make sure that no loose branches are hanging nearby as these can cause a damage during a storm.
- Make sure windows are firmly closed to reduce the likelihood of breaking glass.
- We recommend that people tie down loose garden furniture, or objects such as trampolines, as they can cause damage if they are caught in a storm of heavy wind.
- Ensure that cars, motorbikes and garden furniture are stored in a safe place. Vehicles can be damaged by falling trees / heavy branches or lose roof tiles, if you don’t have a garage you can remove them from areas where they may get damaged.
- Every home should have an emergency kit that can be used in the event of a storm or flood. You can include emergency contacts, batteries, a torch, waterproof clothes, bottled water and food.
To ensure you are prepared ahead of bad weather, particularly if you live in an area that is prone to flooding, you can sign up to government flood warnings online.