Home Insurance in New York starts with the building your policy is supposed to cover, and this state does not have one building. A city co-op or condo is not a detached upstate house. A Buffalo double under lake snow is not a walk-up with a shared roof. Your policy, your deductible, and your claim depend on which of those you actually have. Say the place before you describe the loss.
Put the declarations page in front of you. The dwelling limit, the deductible, and the named causes of loss are the lines that matter. Ask whether wind or hail uses a different deductible than the base deductible. Ask whether flood sits outside this policy, especially near the harbor or a river. Ask what loss of use does if the home cannot be lived in after a covered loss. Belongings and liability are separate from the structure.
Upstate weather is not the city, and the claim should not pretend that it is. In the city, water often arrives through a parapet, a neighbor, or an old window. Upstate, winter losses are more often ice at the eaves, a heavy roof, a frozen pipe, or wind on a house that stands alone. Lake snow can sit for a long time. Tell the call which of those you are looking at, and whether the damage is still spreading.
Say whether a claim is already open or you are asking about the policy you hold now. Say the deductible you see on the page. Say what happened, when you noticed it, and which part of the building was hit. If you rent, say whether the question is your belongings. If you own a unit inside a larger building, say that, because the walls and the roof may sit on a different policy than the one in your hand.
Bring the address, the building type, and the page. Leave out a speech about the whole state. The call needs the loss or the coverage question, the deductible, and the place. A policy imagined for the wrong winter will not match the house when something fails. Describe the building you have. Call the number on this page.