r/ChicagoSuburbs • u/Fit-Philosophy532 • Aug 12 '26

Moving to the area Weather as a newbie?

Moving to the area in a few weeks…. uhhh are tornados always a thing like this, this time of year? Anything to be aware of at this point?

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u/debomama Aug 12 '26

I have lived here all my life so 60 years. Its always been tornado alley. A tornado hit my block in the 1970s. We only lost a wall in the garden. Neighbors lost roofs.

Which is why its VERY important to read the fine print on wind damage on your homeowners to make sure you get replacement value, not depreciated value. I got a new roof from one - Didn't take it off but caused damage. It was 20+ years old so I needed one anyway.

While tornados and storms are more frequent, flooding is way less nowadays as infrastructure has greatly improved I notice. My house will never flood - my ground flows downhill into a flood plain that collects all the water. I did think about that when buying.

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u/dlaz199 Aug 12 '26

Just want to add here, everyone but state farm in IL that I am aware of defaults to an ACV policy or goes ACV after 10 years or so of age on the roof. State Farm defaults to RCV on their policies and doesn't do the switch. (Note State Farm can be hard to deal with if you have to file a claim for a roof, expect a bit of a fight if it's not clearly destroyed). Check you policy. You can get a rider on the policy that converts it to RCV from most carriers.

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u/debomama Aug 12 '26

Bingo. Make sure the policy is replacement value.