What to Do if Your House Floods: A Helpful Guide

1. Turn Off Your Water Sources

If your home isn’t flooding because of rain, then you have a water source in your home that is causing the problem. You need to find the source of the leak and turn it off before things get worse.

If you aren’t sure where the leak is, then you may want to turn off the main water valve for your house. You won’t be able to use any water, but you’ll stop any more water from leaking into your home.

2. Turn Off Your Electricity

Unfortunately, flooding doesn’t affect only your carpet and furniture. If you have any electrical wiring near your flood area, you run the risk of electrocution.

Make sure you turn off your electricity before walking into flooded areas. If you can’t get to your fuse box without walking through water, then call an electrician to help.

3. Document Any Damage

You may be tempted to start cleaning up after it’s safe to enter the flood zone, but don’t do that just yet. You need to start documenting the area so you can show your insurance company the extent of the damage.

Take as many pictures as you can. These will help prove the extent of the damage for your insurance claim.

4. Contact Your Insurance Company

After you’ve documented the damage, it’s time to give your insurance company a call. Your insurance company will want to send a claims adjustor to your property so that they can see the scope of the damage first hand and determine how much money to award for damages.

After the adjustor finishes the property inspection, it becomes a waiting game. Once your insurance company reaches a decision, they will give you a check that you can use to pay for repairs.

5. Begin Cleanup and Restoration

Once the inspections are done, it’s time to start contacting restoration companies to begin the cleanup process. You’ll need to clean out all standing water and dry out all areas that were flooded. Doing this will help prevent any mold from forming.

After the water is gone and things are dry you can start repairs. Your restoration company will be able to guide you on the rest of the process.

What to Do If Your House Floods: Final Thoughts

It isn’t always easy to know what to do if your house floods when you experience the situation first hand. The thing to remember is to stay calm, take inventory of what you need to do, and get things done. Do that, and you’ll be able to minimize the damage to your home and get the cleanup process started smoothly.

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