What should I do before a storm reaches my building?
Move valuables and documents off the floor, clear the gutters and drains you can reach safely, and know where the main water shut-off and the electrical panel are. Keep the line's number in your phone so that you do not have to search for it while the water rises.
Storm preparation is mostly about time. A few hours is enough to move the things that cannot be replaced and to photograph the rooms you are worried about. If you have a sump pump, test it before the storm and know what to do if it fails. Do not wait until the water is at the door to find the breaker panel.
If the water is already coming in, leave the house by a route that keeps you out of standing water, and call from outside. A crew can work with a building that is empty, and a person standing in a flooded hallway cannot be helped by one.
Why does a storm flood damage more than the floor?
Storm water carries silt and moves through a building along the path of least resistance, which often means wall cavities, under-floor spaces and the bottom of closets. The visible floor is only the first layer of the damage.
A storm that drops water against a building can press it into gaps around doors, wall plates and utility penetrations. That water runs down inside the wall and out of sight. A room can look clean on the surface while the bottom plate, the subfloor and the insulation are all still wet.
The crew reads the moisture across the whole space and not only the floor, so that the hidden wet material is found while the drying is still early enough to save it.
How do storm floods change what a crew has to remove?
Storm water can carry silt, debris and in some cases sewage, and those carry different removal rules. Porous materials that hold silt, such as carpet pad and some drywall, are often taken out, and the decision is shown to you before it is made.
The water category is set at the first visit. Silt that has settled into carpet and under trim is removed by hand, because the drying equipment cannot pull it out of the material. Surfaces that can be cleaned are cleaned, and the work is written down room by room.
If sewage is involved, the crew says so and explains what changes, including the protective equipment and the extra cleaning. You are not charged for a scope you did not agree to.
What does the price depend on after a storm flood?
The price depends on how much water came in, how long it stood, how many rooms and materials it reached, and how much has to be removed. No figure is given on this site, and the price is explained and approved in the building before equipment runs.
Storm jobs often arrive with several other calls on the same night, and the crew will move from one building to the next as it can. That is why the first call is about safety and the water source, and the price conversation happens on arrival, when the scope can be seen.
Ask for the scope in writing, including which materials are being removed and why. A good scope lets you compare the work against the readings, and it makes the claim easier to file.
What should I check once the storm has passed?
Look for stains, smells and soft or lifted materials over the next several days, and call if any appear. A room that dries and then shows new signs of water usually has a source or a material that was not reached the first time.
Check the electrical outlets and the panel before you use them again, and have a licensed electrician look at anything that tripped, buzzed or felt warm. Check the doors and the trim, since the lower wood swells first and the change can look like a new problem.
Keep the photographs and the technician's readings together. If a problem appears later, the record shows what was done and where, and it helps the crew find the cause faster.
