For most of the US, the weather this summer has been pretty extreme. From devastating tornadoes and wild fires, to sweltering heat and ridiculous amounts of rain, we can’t seem to catch a break. What happens if you were one of the unfortunate ones who suffered home property damage due to natural disasters?
If you live in an area that is prone to flooding, chances are you will have a flooded house at some point in time (actually, pretty much every home owner will have a flooded basement or home at some point in time!) Here’s a quick run down of what to do if you have a flooded house:
- If your house becomes flooded, make sure you turn off your electric and gas. Electricity can be turned off from your home breaker box. Make sure you’re not standing in water when you’re turning the electricity off (duh!) …There should also be a gas on/off valve for your gas line near the meter. Green means gas is still on. Also, make sure to call your gas company to make them aware of the flooding!
- Next, make sure to document your flooded home. It’s important to take a lot of pictures of all water damage/flooded areas of your home. The sooner you do this, the easier it will be for your insurance claims. Be accurate with this.
- Contact your insurance company about your flooded home. Floodsmart.gov provides excellent information on what process to follow when contacting your insurance company.
- Now comes the not so fun part: pumping out the water of your flooded home. The Red Cross suggests pumping the water out of your flooded home gradually. …this is in hopes to prevent your basement walls from caving in, or any other structural damage from occurring.
- Once all water is removed from your home, you must clean and disinfect all contaminated areas. Floors and walls should be cleaned with disinfectant solution or bleach. Any food that came in contact with the water should be thrown away. All belongings that were submerged in water should be washed and cleaned as well; if it’s not possible to clean these items, throw them away. This is very important…you don’t want to become sick from contaminated water.
- Once your flooded home is completely cleaned, it’s important to dry out your house completely. Don’t take any short cuts with this! You don’t want mold or mildew to start forming in your home!
Do you have any other good tips for a flooded house? Ready.gov has some excellent information, as does FloodSmart.gov. Be sure to check them out!
