The phones are ringing off the hook at local insurance offices after Wednesday's damaging storm.
But before you make damage claims with your insurance, there's a few things you should be aware of.
Erie residents pick up the pieces after powerful storms lead to state of emergency
According to local insurance agent Robert Lafaro with Lafaro Insurance Agency, documentation and proof is everything when filing a claim.
But he warns that while dealing with something urgent like a fallen tree on your roof, it's important to not allow that sense of urgency to taint your judgement.
"There are traveling folks, often times contractors — they call them storm chasers — they look for opportunities such as this, they'll swoop into a town that just had a disaster, they'll show up, they'll say 'hey we can get this thing taken care of for you'. Talk to your insurance company first, right, they will look for things like 'we can get started, pay us cash,'" said Lafaro.
With the volume of calls local agents are dealing with, Lafaro said response times may take a while.
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