After a Windy Night: What You Can Check From the Ground Without a Ladder

The National Weather Service's preliminary review of the storm of 16-17 January 2022 lists these Middlesex County gusts: 66 mph at Hopelawn at 2:30 in the morning on the 17th, from a public report; 44 mph at New Brunswick, from the state weather network; and 38 mph at Carteret and 36 mph at Edison, both from citizen weather stations. Hopelawn also logged 1.0 inch of snow from a trained spotter. The January 2016 storm summary lists 19.0 inches at Woodbridge. These readings come from different kinds of sources a few miles apart. Woodbridge's 2014 recovery report notes sporadic damage in the Colonia and Iselin sections after Sandy. A roof needs its own look rather than a regional number.

PSE&G's guidance on downed lines is to treat every wire on the ground as live, phone and cable lines among them, never to pour water on one, and to stay back at least two full pole spans. It advises against cutting or removing a tree that has become tangled in wires: call 911 or the utility and wait for a professional tree crew. Which company serves your street is printed on your electric bill. The advice reads the same for a wire lying across a lawn, draped on a gutter or hanging in a branch: keep well back and report it.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that over 100 people a year in the U.S. die in ladder falls, and traces about 40 percent of the cases to a wrong setup angle. Its advice is an angle near 75 degrees, three points of contact on the ladder at every moment, and a ten-foot gap from power lines. A wet, leaf-strewn or windy morning is a poor time for a homeowner to test those numbers. Every item on the list below works from the lawn, a window or the attic hatch, and a roofer can do the climbing on a dry day.

The storm-claim sheet from New Jersey's Department of Banking and Insurance gives four instructions. Take pictures of damaged property before any of it goes in the trash. Keep it until the insurer has inspected it or says it can be discarded. Carry out whatever temporary repairs are needed, and keep each receipt. The same sheet says a policyholder need not accept the contractor the insurer recommends. A phone photo of each pile of shingle pieces with the house behind it, dated by the phone, covers the first instruction.

FEMA's fact sheet on asphalt shingles shows where wind tends to get in. Shingles at ridges and hips take a fastener on each side of the ridge and four 1-inch dabs of roof cement; at the rakes, the sloping edges, two dabs go on the metal drip edge; at the eave, a starter strip sits 1 to 2.5 inches from the edge. From the ground, those are the lines to scan: along the ridge, down the hips, around the edges and at the corners, for gaps in the shingle pattern, lifted tabs or a bare strip. The sheet adds that tabs are checked after sun exposure activates the sealant.

With a flashlight at the hatch, the useful look is for dark streaks on the roof boards, insulation that is matted or wet, and daylight showing where none belongs. The Department of Energy's repair brief wants wood under 20 percent moisture before anything covers it, and says plywood and oriented strand board can peel or fall apart as they dry. It also notes that homes older than 1977 may have asbestos in roofing and insulation. The Census median build year in Colonia is 1959, so old insulation is left alone. The EPA's mold guidance says to act promptly and dry everything completely. It points to its guide or a professional when mold spreads over an area larger than about 10 square feet or the water was contaminated.