One month after the derecho, roofing companies struggle to keep up with demand – kwwl.com

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KWWL)- For the last month, Manuel Garcia Perez said his phone has not stopped ringing.

"I have been getting like 100 calls a day," he said.

Perez is the owner of Manny's Eastern Iowa Roofing and Construction.

"Customers are calling and saying 'hey we got a roof that's leaking,' and we're saying 'we'll try to make it out there as fast as we can so, we can help you guys out and tarping and so your house doesn't get any more damaged."

Around 60% of all homes in Linn County suffered some sort of roof damage from last month's fierce storm.

With so many homes in need of repair, Perez and other contractors need to prioritize. Often it is on a first-come, first-serve basis, but sometimes it is an emergency and crews need to re-tarp a roof.

"We are trying to tarp everybody's house, help everyone," he said. "It is just a long list that we need to get to."

As the rain fell Thursday afternoon, Perez crisscrossed Cedar Rapids to meet with clients.

With thousands of damaged roofs, Perez said this week's rain is "every contractor's nightmare."

Not only does it make repair and recovery work harder, but it also brings a new problem for those wanting to get their roof fixed.

"There are exposed houses that need to be replaced the whole thing now because once the water hits the plywood, it buckles up, so we have to replace those now," he said.

The demand is high, but Perez said he and his team are doing everything they can to get to everyone who needs them.

"We are not ignoring your calls. We are just trying to get to everybody," he said. "It is a long line before we get recovered back."

Over the past few days, Perez and his team have responded to some emergencies with people's exposed roofs leaking into their homes.

In that case, they race out to re-tarp it, but they are struggling to get enough tarps since right now, there are not enough tarps to go around.

Besides the shortage of tarps, with so many roofs damaged in Cedar Rapids alone, many Linn County roofing companies are simply booked solid for the remainder of the year.

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One month after the derecho, roofing companies struggle to keep up with demand - kwwl.com