PHOENIX (CBS5) -
Time is running out to file insurance claims from the freak hail storm that unleashed havoc in 2010 and caused an estimated $2.5 billion worth of damage.
"Things were destroyed. I thought that the roof was going to cave in," remembered Phoenix homeowner Jamie Louvau.
She's been battling her insurance company ever since.
"I have paid them money. I have never been late. I've done everything that they've asked me to do, and now I need them to do what I asked them to do," she said.
Louvau had never seen a violent hail storm like that before in Phoenix, but said she wasn't too worried.
"I was like, 'Well you know, that's why we pay insurance,'" she said.
But she said her insurance company told her the damage to her roof and backyard was only minimal and cut her two small checks, which didn't cover the repairs. So she hired an attorney.
"Jamie's case is typical. They offered initially under $10,000, and they are now over $60,000 and there is more money to come," said Joe Watkins, an attorney and insurance adjuster who knows the system.
"We buy insurance so that we have our house the way it was the day before the loss, pre-loss condition," Watkins said.
He said anyone who took a hit needs to either file or take another look at their claim.
"We are seeing thousands and thousands of underpaid claims arising out of the 2010 hail storm," Watkins said.
The statute of limitations runs out on filing a claim next week, on Oct. 5.
Watkins said most people don't realize they could be leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table.
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Jamie Louvau said she had never seen a violent hail storm like that before in Phoenix in 2010, but said she wasn't too worried. Now, she's embroiled in an ongoing battle with her insurance company.
Louveau's roof still hasn't been repaired.
The freak hail storm caused an estimated $2.5 billion worth of damage in the Valley.
