August 4, 2026 · ACI Adjustment Group
Verified event facts
Each fact below is confirmed by the authoritative source cited later in this report — see "About this report" for how anything not confirmed is handled.
Event type: hail
Issuing authority: NWS Binghamton NY
Warning identifier: /O.NEW.KBGM.SV.W.0134.260727T1843Z-260727T1915Z/
State: PA
Affected county: Luzerne
Reported hail size (in): 1.00 in
Reported wind gust: 60 MPH
About Luzerne County
Luzerne County sits in the Ridge-and-Valley province of northeastern Pennsylvania, centered on the Wyoming Valley. The Susquehanna River runs directly through the Wyoming Valley and Wilkes-Barre, an area with a well-documented history of river flooding.
Wilkes-Barre and the valley boroughs carry dense, older housing stock from the region's coal-mining era, with newer development in the outlying townships.
The Wyoming Valley's river flooding history is well documented — Hurricane Agnes in 1972 is the most widely cited event — and the valley also sees summer severe thunderstorms and winter nor'easters like the rest of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Historical frequency data for hail events in Luzerne County was not available for this report.
What property owners should inspect
Hail damage is easy to underestimate from the ground. A thorough inspection means getting on or near the roof (safely, and after any structural concerns are ruled out) to look for bruising and granule loss in a scattered pattern across every slope, not just the side facing the storm — hail can be driven at an angle by wind.
Soft metals bruise more visibly than shingles and are a useful cross-check: dented gutters, downspouts, roof vents, and flashing confirm the hail was large enough to damage a roof surface too, which matters when a roof's remaining life is in dispute.
The roof surface for bruising, granule loss, and cracked or split shingles.
Soft metals — gutters, downspouts, vents, and flashing — for dents.
Windows, screens, siding, and outdoor HVAC fins for impact damage.
Interior ceilings for staining that can appear after hail-damaged roofing leaks.
Pennsylvania insurance claims guidance for this type of damage
Pennsylvania sets specific periods for handling a property insurance claim by regulation (31 Pa. Code Chapter 146), not left entirely to the insurer. An insurer must acknowledge a claim within 10 working days of notice (§ 146.5). It must complete its investigation within 30 days, and if it cannot, it must provide a written explanation for the delay and a decision-date estimate every 45 days after that (§ 146.6). Once you have submitted properly executed proofs of loss, the insurer has 15 working days to advise you of acceptance or denial (§ 146.7(a)(1)), and a denial must be in writing and reference the specific policy provisions relied on.
None of that fixes how much you are paid, what your policy covers, or how long payment takes once a claim is accepted — those depend on your specific policy, not on Chapter 146.
Separately, § 146.7(e) requires written notice before a statute of limitations or a contractual time limit in your policy expires — 30 days in advance if you are a first-party claimant, 60 days if you are a third-party claimant. If you receive one of these notices, the date on it is the deadline to act on, not the date of your original loss.
The overall duration of a claim is not fixed by any of this. A claim with a clear cause and an agreed scope of damage typically resolves faster than a disputed one, and Chapter 146 does not cap how long a disputed claim can take from report to resolution.
The regulation itself is published by the Commonwealth at pacodeandbulletin.gov under Title 31, Chapter 146. If you believe an insurer has not met these requirements on your Pennsylvania claim, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department accepts consumer complaints.
A common documentation gap on hail claims is photographing only the roof and missing the soft-metal damage (gutters, flashing, vents, AC fins) that corroborates a hail event independent of roof wear — insurers sometimes attribute roof damage to age when that corroborating evidence is missing from the file.
What to do in the first 24 hours
Do not re-enter until local authorities confirm the structure is safe.
Document everything before any cleanup begins — photograph and video the exterior, each affected room, and the full extent of the damage.
Keep damaged materials and contents where it is safe to do so until they can be inspected.
Keep receipts for any emergency mitigation work (pumping, drying, tarping, board-up).
Contact your insurance company to report the loss, and write down the claim number and every adjuster's name and contact information.
How ACI Adjustment Group can help
ACI Adjustment Group is a licensed public adjusting firm in Pennsylvania that represents property and business owners — never the insurance company. When a claim is denied, underpaid, or built on a single insurer inspection, ACI's licensed public adjusters independently document the loss, read the policy, and re-present the claim with the evidence behind it.
ACI Adjustment Group offers a free inspection of your damage and a straightforward explanation of your options. If your Pennsylvania property was damaged in this event, call ACI Adjustment Group at 1-800-809-4302.
From that first inspection through negotiating with the insurance company, ACI's licensed public adjusters handle the claim process directly, so you are not managing it alone on top of repairing or replacing what was damaged. There is no cost or obligation to have your damage reviewed.
Sources and updates
Authoritative source: https://api.weather.gov/alerts/urn:oid:2.49.0.1.840.0.087c214ab306ab8cb27b9ca70939f3f5c7b09b49.001.1
Last updated (UTC): 2026-08-04T11:56:14Z
About this report
Verified: every fact in the event-facts list above comes from an authoritative source, with the source links provided.
Not confirmed: measurements or details not reported by an authoritative source (for example, rainfall totals where none were issued) are omitted from this report rather than estimated.
Related resources
For more on hail and other property claims affecting Luzerne County, see Pennsylvania Public Adjusters, Storm & Wind Claims and Free Pennsylvania Claim Guides below.