How to Spot Roof Damage After a Coastal Storm
After storm damage in Chichester, make the property safe, document everything with photographs for insurance, and call an emergency roofer for a written assessment. Chichester's coastal plain position makes properties in Selsey, East Wittering and the Manhood Peninsula the most storm-exposed in the area.
South-westerly gales off the Solent arrive with very little warning and leave damage that is not always visible from the pavement below. Every winter across Chichester, Bognor Regis and the exposed coastal villages, we carry out dozens of storm-damage inspections — and the pattern of what fails, where and why is remarkably consistent.
This guide walks through what to check after a storm, what typically causes damage on different property types, and when something is urgent enough to call us immediately versus when it can wait for a scheduled inspection.
What to Check From the Ground
Start outside. Walk the full perimeter of your property and look up at all four roof elevations where you can see them. You are looking for:
- Displaced ridge tiles — the mortar-bedded tiles along the apex of the roof. They are the most vulnerable element in high winds and often the first to go. A gap in the ridge line, or a tile sitting at an angle, is visible from street level.
- Missing or lifted tiles on the main slopes — a patch of darker exposed felt or the roof structure itself is an obvious sign. More subtle is a single tile that has slipped down, partially exposing the tile below it.
- Chimney pot displacement — pots that are leaning, cracked, or missing. Also check whether the flaunching has cracked away from the stack.
- Debris in gutters and on flat roofs — branches driven against the roof surface can damage felt, crack tiles and block drainage outlets simultaneously.
- Lead flashing movement — the strips of lead around chimneys and skylights. If a lead fold has lifted or pulled away from the masonry, it will be visible as a gap or buckled section.
The Met Office records the Sussex coast among the higher wind-exposure zones in southern England, with winter gales regularly exceeding 50mph on exposed coastal sites.
— Met Office regional climate data, southern England
Check Inside the Roof Space
If you have loft access, a torch inspection immediately after a storm is one of the most useful things you can do. You are looking for daylight — any shaft of light coming through from outside indicates an opening in the tile covering. You are also looking for wet patches on the felt, wet insulation, or water trickling down rafters. Run your hand along the underside of the felt where it meets the eaves — this is where water from a blocked valley or lifted tile is most likely to run before it gets inside.
What Typically Fails in Chichester Storm Events
The pattern of storm damage follows the housing stock closely. On the Victorian and Edwardian terraces in St Pancras, Whyke Road and The Hornet, ridge tile failure after mortar deterioration is the most common call. The original sand and cement ridge bedding on most of these properties has been in place for decades, and even modest wind events can displace ridge tiles that have been gradually loosening.
On the post-war concrete tile estates in Portfield and Donnington, nail sickness is the hidden risk factor that storms reveal. Tiles that look intact from the ground are held only by corroded nails — a strong uplift event removes them with very little resistance. Multiple tiles coming off a single pitch in one event is almost always a nail sickness problem rather than a one-off incident.
On the Selsey and East Wittering peninsula, storm events are more severe than in Chichester city. The same wind speed across open coastal plain produces higher roof uplift than in a built-up area with shelter from adjacent buildings. We always specify mechanically fixed tiles for any re-roofing work on the Manhood Peninsula for this reason.
When to Call Immediately
Not all storm damage is equally urgent. A missing tile on a well-felted roof in a dry spell can wait a few days. The following should be treated as same-day emergencies:
- Water actively coming into the property through the ceiling or down an internal wall
- A section of roof structure exposed — multiple tiles missing or a large area of felt visible
- A chimney pot or section of stack that has fallen or is visibly unstable
- Any situation where a second weather system is forecast within 24–48 hours — a coastal Chichester roof left partially open ahead of another front is a serious risk
Winter advice for Chichester homeowners: Have a roof inspection carried out in September or October — before the first major storms of the season. Identifying loose ridge tiles, open valleys and corroded flashings before the weather arrives is far less expensive than dealing with the same issues after storm damage.
What Happens When You Call
We triage storm calls by urgency. If there is active water ingress or exposed structure, we will get a crew to you the same day — typically with sheeting materials for a make-safe visit. Once the roof is secure, we carry out a full survey in daylight and provide a written quote for the permanent repair.
For non-urgent damage — a displaced ridge tile with no water ingress, a single missing tile on a dry pitch — we will book a survey visit within a few days and quote for the work at that point. No charge for the survey, no obligation to proceed. We cover all Chichester postcodes including Bognor Regis, Selsey, Emsworth, Arundel and all West Sussex coastal villages. Call 01243 278085 any time.