After a storm you should always check your roof for missing shingles, missing rain caps on furnace and water heater vent stacks, and natural gas appliances that require vents. You don't necessarily have to climb on your roof to check these out; using binoculars works just as well and is much safer. Make a habit of looking up at your roof whenever you approach your house, either from the front or back yards. This way you will notice immediately if something is wrong.
Furnaces are expensive and a missing rain cap on the vent stack can shorten the life of the heat exchanger by more than half. Note that not all pipes sticking up on your roof need rain caps, some of them are plumbing vent pipes.
We encourage you to look at your roof as you are driving up to your house, since you can get a good view of the roof that way.