It’s your worst nightmare: water everywhere. Flooding is one of the most common and most stressful emergencies faced by homeowners. Whether you’re dealing with a broken pipe, a backed-up sewer, a leaking roof, or overflowing nearby rivers and streams, acting fast is the number one thing to remember. The longer the water sits, the more damage it does. Quick water damage cleanup in Paola, Kansas mitigates damages and reduces cleanup and restoration costs.
The first rule of rapid response is to have a plan. If you have thought through your response before the disaster occurs, you’re poised to react quickly. A delay of even an hour or two while trying to decide what to do can be the difference between saving your space and having to undergo a complete demolition and restoration. Floods are never fun and are never easy, but you can make the process less painful by knowing what to do.
Five Steps of a Quick Flood Response
The following five steps will help you respond appropriately in a flooding emergency.
Protect
In the initial phases of a flood event, it’s important to take a moment to consider how best to protect yourself, and your possessions from the damage water can do. Safeguard your stuff requires you to move as much as you can away from the water as fast as you can. If it’s portable, get it out of there. Larger furniture can be raised on nonporous lifts to prevent contact with the water.
Protecting yourself requires taking a few precautions.
- Remember that electricity and water don’t mix. If there’s any risk at all that the water is making contact with live electrical wires – outlets, plugs, etc., turn off the power before entering the area.
- Consider the nature of the water. Clean water from unpolluted sources like pipes or falling rain is safe to work with, but polluted or contaminated water from sewers, rivers, or other unclean sources requires the use of personal protective equipment.
Stop
The other important step to take at the very start of a flood event is to stop the water flow. If a weather event causes flooding, your ability to stop the water from coming in may be limited, but other issues can be stopped.
- If the flood was predicted, take protective measures such as sandbagging.
- Locate all the water shut-off valves in your home. (Do this today. Don’t wait for an emergency.) Understand how to shut them off and make sure you have any necessary tools. When pipes break, appliances fail, or toilets overflow, you’ll know exactly what to do to stop the water from flowing.
Call
Your insurance company is an important resource during a flood. Contacting them early in the process will ensure that you have the information you need to file a successful claim.
Dry
The faster things can dry out, the less likely mold and mildew are to grow, and the more likely you can preserve your home and save your belongings.
- Lift carpets and pads so air can circulate all round
- Hang rugs and draperies
- Move as many portable wet things out of the area. Wet stuff keeps the air moist, which slows drying.
- Turn on your HVAC
- Open doors and windows
- Run fans
- Use dehumidifiers
Clean
Floods leave a mess in their wake. Calling a professional for emergency water damage cleanup in Paola, KS will ensure that the cleanup is done thoroughly. The experts at Emergency Mitigation Services will assess the damage and get it cleaned up quickly and entirely so you can get back to life as usual.
