Should I go on the roof during a storm?

Victoria's storms are wind events more than rain events. The south-easterlies that hit Dallas Road, Cadboro Bay and the Sidney waterfront lift ridge caps and shingle tabs; the same gusts turn an extension ladder against stucco into a lever. Most of the older core-city housing has eaves well over 3 m and pitches of 8/12 or steeper, exactly the roofs where WorkSafeBC requires crews to be tied off. A homeowner has none of that equipment and, on a wet December afternoon, none of the light either.

The other local hazard is trees. A Douglas fir limb or a Garry oak branch down on the roof in the Highlands, Metchosin, Broadmead or Cordova Bay often brings a service line with it. Stay away from the branch and any wire, call BC Hydro if a line is involved, and let an arborist and roofer deal with it in daylight. Inside, the leak-containment steps (bucket, pierced ceiling bulge, circuit off, photos) are the same as for any leak and are all the storm-night work there is.

Falls from ladders and roofs are the leading cause of serious injury in residential construction, which is why WorkSafeBC treats 3 m as the threshold for mandatory fall protection. The homeowner version of the accident is a ladder foot sliding on a wet patio, a boot losing grip on mossy shingles, or a gust catching a tarp like a sail. The roof damage you were going to fix is, in almost every case, cosmetic for a night or two; the injury is not.

An emergency crew arrives with an anchor, harness, ropes, a tarp cut to size and wood battens. They fasten the tarp along the ridge and down the slope so wind cannot get under it, and they can do it in light rain because they are tied off. In a full gale even they wait, because a tarp installed in 80 km/h gusts tears free and takes shingles with it. Expect $300 to $800 for the visit in our pricing model, credited against the repair by many companies.

• Anchored fall-protection system
• Battened tarp, not a weighted one
• Photographs for your insurer
• Assessment of what the permanent repair will need

Photograph the roof from the ground and any debris on the lawn, then check the attic for wet spots if it is safely reachable. Call a roofer for a tarp or an inspection; call your insurer if shingles are gone or a tree struck the house, since a BC storm-damage claim is time-sensitive and depends on documentation. Book the permanent repair for the next dry window rather than the next day; a good tarp holds for weeks.