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Channel storm damage checklist for Folkestone, Sandgate and the clifftop villages

A winter gale off the Channel brings down fence panels, strips tiles and floods low-lying Sandgate frontages. What to check, what to fix first, and what the insurance record needs.

Folkestone and the coast either side of it take the weather straight off the Channel. A proper winter gale is not a rare event here the way it might be a few miles inland at Etchinghill - fence panels down, slipped tiles, and on the low ground along Sandgate's Esplanade, actual flood water over the sea wall on the worst tides. The right response order protects the insurance claim as much as the property.

First hour: safety only

• Any live cables, or a meter box that has taken water or debris? Do not approach - call the utility's emergency number.
• Slipped roof tiles or loose ridge stock still up there? Stay off the roof in wind. It waits until the gale drops.
• Standing flood water on a Sandgate ground floor? Cut power at the consumer unit if it is safe to reach, and do not wade through water near any electrical socket or appliance.

Second hour: photograph everything

Wide shots, medium shots, close-ups on every piece of damage, before any clean-up starts. If flood water reached a specific height, mark it and photograph the mark. This is the evidence the insurance claim runs on.

Same day: make safe, do not fix

• Board up any glass breach with plywood.
• Tarpaulin a roof breach - tarp only, not a repair.
• If flood water has receded from a ground floor, do not start ripping out flooring or skirting until the loss adjuster has seen it, unless drying it out is urgent to prevent further damage - photograph first either way.

Within 48 hours: report and quote

Notify the insurer, get a claim number. Get quotes for structural repair (roof, wall), boundary reinstatement (fence, gate), and, for flood-affected Sandgate properties, a specialist drying-out assessment before any redecoration starts. I do the handyman-scope reinstatement work on the Folkestone patch - fence and gate, roof-tile and flashing patch, timber and fascia replacement. Structural or flood-drying work gets flagged to the right specialist rather than bundled in.

What the handyman scope actually covers

Once anything structural is signed off, the handyman scope covers fence and boundary reinstatement, roof-tile and flashing patch, fascia and soffit replacement where storm-hit, gate rehang. Priced against the standard fence-and-gate repair and small roof jobs rates.