What to do after wind knocks your fence down

By the A+ Fence Repair & Installation team · Updated November 7, 2026 · 4 min read

First, make the yard safe

A fence that is down is a gap in the yard, and the dogs find it before you do. Keep pets on a lead or inside until the section is back up. If a panel is leaning rather than flat, and it is safe to reach, prop it with a couple of boards or lean it back against a post so it cannot fall on a child, a car or the neighbor's side.

Do not try to stand a whole section up by hand. A 6 ft cedar panel on wet ground is heavy, and if the post snapped at grade there is nothing to fasten it to yet.

Why the fence went over in the first place

A solid privacy fence catches wind like a sail. When a spring front comes across the open South Plains, every gust that hits the fence broadside puts the whole load on the posts. A wood post that has rotted at the soil line, or worked loose in dry ground, snaps or leans, and the panels on either side go with it. The pickets and rails are usually fine; the post is what failed.

That is the single most useful thing to know when you call: tell us whether the posts snapped, pulled out of the ground, or are still standing with the panel torn off them. It changes what the crew brings.

What can be saved

Panels that are intact can usually be stood back up on new or reset posts. Broken pickets and rails get replaced and matched to the existing boards where the wood allows. Chain-link gets its top rail straightened or replaced, the fabric re-stretched and re-tied, and leaning posts reset.

One or two sections down, posts snapped: a repair, usually with steel posts going in where the wood ones failed.
A long run laid flat but the boards are sound: a repair, section by section.
Posts failing along the whole line and the pickets grey and splitting: we say so, and bid a replacement alongside the repair so you can decide with both numbers.

What happens when you call

Tell the receptionist the fence is down and whether you have animals, so we can work you in as early as the schedule allows. We are open seven days a week, 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM. Blake comes out, checks every post along the damaged run, not only the ones that fell, and gives you a price before work starts. Estimates inside Lubbock are free, and if you mention our website the repair is 5% off, up to $200.

Failed posts are reset or replaced, never just propped, because a panel stood up on a bad post only lasts until the next front.

Insurance photos, if you need them

Before anything is moved, take photos of the whole run from both sides, close-ups of the broken posts at the ground, and anything the fence fell on. Your insurer decides what is covered, not us, but a clear set of before photos makes that conversation shorter. Keep them even if you never file.

Next step

This guide supports our Wind and storm damage repair page. Blake bids every job himself; estimates inside Lubbock are free.

Questions people ask

Can you come out the same day after a storm?

We fit wind-damage calls in as early as the schedule allows and answer the phone seven days a week, 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM. Tell us the fence is down and whether you have dogs when you call.

Will my insurance cover a fence the wind blew down?

That is between you and your policy. Take photos of the damage before anything is moved, and ask us for the written bid; most insurers want both.

Do I need a whole new fence if one section fell?

Usually not. If the panels are intact and only the posts failed, we stand the panels back up on reset or new steel posts and replace the broken pickets. If the wood was already rotted along the whole line, we price a replacement next to the repair so you can compare.