ARGYLE, Texas -- Despite a stretch of sunny weather, insurance companies are still in the field working to survey damage several severe storms left behind in North Texas.
"We've been through experiences like that, but this was probably the worst," said Scott Kennedy, a homeowner in Argyle.
Kennedy and his family rode out the storm just fine -- that's the good news -- but his Argyle roof took a beating during last month’s storms. It may not look like much, but even minor roof damage can be expensive.
"And then we started to hear tornado sirens and so then we all huddled into the middle of the house and we could hear hail starting to hit the roof,” Kennedy said. “You just could tell that there was a lot going on outside.”
Kimberly Green from the claim response team for Travelers insurance is responsible for assessing the damage.
"Originally we would get on any roof and do our measurements and scope it, look for the hail (damage)," Green said.
But her rope and ladder have been replaced by a state-of-the-art drone armed with an HD Camera.
"The drone eliminates all the safety concerns and it's more efficient," she said.
To date, Travelers insurance has a fleet of 150 drones across the United States -- they hope to double that number within the year. Their drone technology was first put to use during Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
"We want to put our customer back to where they were before the event happened, we want to cover as much as possible,” Green said. “This allows us to make sure we don't miss anything. We can actually see on a broader scale.”
Roof inspection is just the beginning -- it's a technology the company hopes to take to oil tower inspection farm lands. For now, it’s a bonus for homeowners like Kennedy who's ready to put the severe weather behind him.
"It's a lot safer than folks getting on top of the roof and risk falling down and such,” he said. “And it seems a little quicker to be able to start getting results back and getting into certain areas that you might not be be able to any other way.”
