➢ Wind Damage Claim Denied or Underpaid? Our Lawyers Can Help.
Texas homeowners and business owners whose wind damage insurance claim was denied, delayed, or underpaid may be eligible to take legal action against their insurance company and recover the full amount owed under their policy.
Wind claims are denied more often than policyholders expect, and usually for the same reason. Wind damage is frequently invisible from the ground, which gives an adjuster room to call it something other than storm damage.
Hissey Mulderig & Friend is accepting first-party wind damage insurance claims from policyholders throughout Texas. If you or a loved one filed a wind damage claim in Texas and your insurance company denied it, undervalued it, or has failed to respond, you may qualify to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Contact the attorneys at Hissey Mulderig & Friend toll-free at 1-866-806-8117, or submit a free case evaluation form to speak to an attorney and find out whether you qualify.
➢ How Wind Actually Damages a Texas Roof
Wind does not push a roof down. It pulls upward. Air moving across the surface creates negative pressure above the shingle and positive pressure beneath it, and the shingle lifts.
Asphalt shingles resist that lift through a self-sealing adhesive strip bonding each shingle to the one below. When wind overcomes the bond, the sealant separates. An unsealed tab then flexes in every subsequent breeze, the bond does not reform, and the failure spreads across the slope until tabs fracture and blow free, exposing the underlayment and deck.
A roof can therefore be badly damaged without a single missing shingle. Unsealed and creased tabs lie flat and look undisturbed from the driveway, yet the building is open to water, and interior losses from that intrusion often exceed the cost of the roof itself. An adjuster who stands in the yard, sees nothing missing, and closes the file has not inspected the roof.
➢ Shingle Wind Ratings and How Insurers Use Them
A common denial argument in Texas wind claims runs like this: the shingles were rated for 110 mph, recorded winds were 70 mph, so the storm did not cause the damage.
That misuses the rating. Shingles are rated under two ASTM methods: ASTM D3161 and ASTM D7158. Both ratings test new shingles, fully sealed, in controlled laboratory conditions, and neither accounts for weathering or aging in the field.
ASTM itself notes that sealing is influenced by temperature, time, roof slope, contamination by dirt and debris, and fasteners that are misaligned or underdriven.
A rating describes a shingle when it was new in a laboratory; it does not describe how a particular roof, installed by a particular crew and aged through a decade of Texas heat, behaves in a particular storm.
➢ The Weather Station Problem
The second common denial argument relies on recorded wind speed at the nearest reporting station, and it has a geographic flaw.
The most destructive thunderstorm winds in Texas come from downbursts. A microburst is a downburst less than 2.5 miles across lasting only minutes, and NOAA reports microbursts can produce winds up to 168 mph. Such a storm can strip one subdivision while the next street stays dry, and miss every official anemometer in the county.
A derecho, by definition, carries a damage swath longer than 240 miles with gusts of at least 58 mph along most of its length. NOAA also notes that wind can begin causing damage at 50 mph, below the threshold most denial letters treat as significant.
There is a documented reporting gap as well. Researchers analyzing the NOAA Storm Events Database found downburst reports cluster where people live and thin out where they do not, with central Texas specifically identified as underreported. An absence of reports is not an absence of wind.
➢ Windstorm, Tornado, and Derecho Are One Category
Texas policies often apply a separate windstorm deductible without defining “windstorm,” and policyholders have argued a tornado is something different. The Texas Supreme Court rejected that argument in February 2026, holding that the ordinary meaning of an undefined “windstorm” unambiguously includes a tornado.
The court found no distinction between rotating and straight-line winds. Whether the event was a tornado, a derecho, or a downburst, it is a windstorm claim.
➢ Wind-Created Openings
When wind removes shingles, breaks a window, or opens a wall, rain entering through that opening is generally treated as wind damage rather than excluded water damage. The wind is what let the water in.
Insurers frequently reverse that sequence and call the interior loss rain damage or a maintenance issue. Establishing that the opening came first is often the whole dispute in claims involving ceilings, insulation, and flooring.
➢ Windstorm Coverage on the Texas Coast
Coastal property owners may carry wind coverage through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association rather than a private carrier.
TWIA writes wind and hail coverage in the 14 first-tier coastal counties and part of Harris County, and its claims run on a separate track.
Notice generally must be given within one year of the date of loss, with separate deadlines governing appraisal and suit. Structural repairs and roof replacements in the catastrophe area must also be inspected and certified to windstorm code, and rebuilding without that certification can leave a property ineligible for future coverage.
➢ Evidence That Decides Texas Wind Claims
Wind damage is provable, but not from the ground. Building envelope professionals recommend a proper assessment account for where damaged shingles sit, the pattern of unsealed tabs across each slope, which slopes are affected, and the prevailing wind direction during the storm.
That analysis separates storm damage from age. Wind failures follow the wind, concentrating on windward slopes and at rakes, eaves, and ridges where uplift pressure is highest. Deterioration does not organize itself that way.
Other useful evidence includes hands-on seal testing across marked sections of roof, mechanical uplift measurements, dated photographs predating the storm, radar velocity data, and National Weather Service storm survey statements for the date and location.
➢ Vehicle Wind Damage
A vehicle struck by a falling tree, flying debris, or a collapsing carport is covered under comprehensive coverage rather than collision, and no fault needs to be shown.
This distinction matters because the two carry different deductibles, and claims are sometimes routed to the wrong one. Valuation disputes that follow are covered on our page about Texas vehicle damage insurance claims.
➢ Who Is Eligible to File a Texas Wind Damage Insurance Claim?
Texas property owners may be eligible to file a claim if they meet the following case criteria:
- Owned a home, business property, or vehicle in Texas damaged by a windstorm, downburst, derecho, tornado, or hurricane-force winds;
- Carried an insurance policy covering the property at the time of the storm;
- Received a denial, a partial payment, or no response after reporting the loss to the insurance company or TWIA.
If you or a member of your family answered yes to all of the above criteria, you may qualify to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
➢ Contact Our Law Firm to Start Your Claim Today
The lawyers at Hissey Mulderig & Friend have more than 100 years of combined legal experience representing clients across the state of Texas. Our firm is accepting wind damage, windstorm, downburst, derecho, and tornado insurance claims involving homes, businesses, and vehicles.
If you had a Texas wind damage insurance claim denied, underpaid, or delayed by your insurance company, you may be eligible to file a lawsuit and receive compensation.
Find out whether you qualify or start your claim today by calling the lawyers at Hissey Mulderig & Friend toll-free at 1-866-806-8117, or by filling out the free case evaluation form located at the top of this page.
