Understanding Damage From Severe Storms | SERVPRO® of Garden Grove East/Anaheim Central

3/22/2022 (Permalink)

Thunderstorms can sometimes be a daily occurrence during the spring and summer depending on where you live in the United States. But they also bring the opportunity for storm damage.

Do you know about the different types of damage that can be caused by thunderstorms?

<h4familiar-with-thunderstorms">Get Familiar With Thunderstorms

First, let’s learn a bit about thunderstorms. We can experience some 16 million thunderstorms throughout the world each year. Here in the United States, it’s not unusual to see 100,000 thunderstorms annually, with 10% of those reaching severe status.

The necessary conditions for a thunderstorm to develop are moisture and rising unstable air accompanied by a “lifting” mechanism, which could be caused by hills or mountains that force air to rise, or where warm/cold or wet/dry air bump together, causing a rising motion.

There are three distinct life cycle stages for a thunderstorm—the developing stage, the mature stage and the dissipating stage. The mature stage is what produces hail, heavy rain, frequent lightning, strong winds and tornadoes.

<h4types-of-damage">Differing Types of Damage

While thunderstorms possess many different dangers, a top risk is the possibility of flying debris.

Wind speeds/gusts in a severe thunderstorm can exceed 57.5 mph—enough to cause damage to your property.

Random items in your yard that would seem the least threatening can turn into projectiles. You should take care to make sure items in your yard are secured or well-maintained if there is a threat of storms. This includes things like tree branches, gravel, mailboxes, fencing, lawn furniture, potted plants and garbage cans, which are all possible projectiles during a high wind situation.

There are many other types of damage thunderstorms can be responsible for besides wind damage:

Lightning damage. A lightning strike can not only pose a fire hazard, but also travel through your home’s wires and fry anything that is plugged in.

Tornado damage. The fact that tornadoes can reach upward of 200 mph wind speeds is scary enough, but with them comes the chance for a large amount of damage in a short period of time.

Hail damage. Coming in at $1 billion in damages yearly, hail is nothing to underestimate. It can damage crops, vehicles and building structures.

Flood damage. Floods are capable of damaging structures, tearing trees out of the ground and sweeping things away.

If a thunderstorm has resulted in damage to your home or business, know that the team at SERVPRO® of Garden Grove East/Anaheim Central is available ²⁴⁄₇ to help with cleanup and restoration.