7 Important Things to do After a House Flood

Flooding tends to be rather distracting. However, if your home has been flooded, you should now that there are some things that you can do to protect your finances as well as your personal well-being. As a result, you should do your best to remain calm so that you can pursue a more productive course of action for your particular circumstances. Here are 7 things to keep in mind in case of flooding:

1. Avoid Further Risks

Flooding comes with some serious risks. As a result, you should do your best to avoid them as much as possible because your personal well-being is paramount. For example, one of the most common recommendations is for you to cut power to your home by using your circuit panel before you venture into flooded areas to remove your possessions. This is recommended even if your home isn’t receiving power at the moment because you never know when your power will be restored. Likewise, you might want to conduct a visual inspection of your property’s exterior before you head inside because flooding can weaken the structure of your home. Speaking bluntly, if your home shows cracks, holes, and other signs for serious concern, you should stay away until you can confirm that it is safe.

2. Protect Your Health

On a related note, you will want to take steps to protect your health. If you are going into flooded areas, you will want to wear either waders or hip-high waterproof boots. Similarly, if you are going to touch anything, you will want to have a pair of rubber gloves on. Please note that food that has come into contact with flood water should be tossed out because of contamination. Moreover, water must be boiled until the authorities announce that it is safe once again.

3. Get Your Documentation in Good Order

If you want your insurance to cover your costs, you are going to need to get your documentation in good order. Generally speaking, this means your proof of ownership, your proof of personal identity, your records of your homeowners’ insurance policy, and your records of your flood insurance policy if that is necessary. Ideally, you will have this information stored in the same place in a neat and well-organized manner, which will make it much easier for you to remove them than if you have to search for them throughout your home.

4. File Your Claim

You should file your insurance claim sooner rather than later. This is because even if the process proceeds as smoothly as possible, it can still take days and days, meaning that there is no sense to waiting. With that said, you should make sure that you know exactly what it is that you need before you file so that you won’t get interrupted by delays.

5. Document

Documentation can be very useful. As a result, you might want to start taking pictures, recording videos, and even writing down information about the condition of your home so that you can establish a record of its state as well as the impact that the flooding has had upon it. Moreover, whenever your home deteriorates after the initial incident, you will want to document its state once again. The more documentation that you have, the easier it will be for you to prove your claims. Something that could prove invaluable once the claims adjuster is on the scene.

6. Remove Water

Once you get the go-ahead from your insurer, you are going to want to remove the water from your home as soon as possible. Some helpful tools include both sump pumps and water vacuums, which can be purchased from most hardware and home supply stores. Please note that water is pretty heavy, meaning that you will want to avoid straining yourself by accident

7. Secure Your Home

Likewise, you will want to take steps to secure your home for the purpose of preventing further damage. For instance, if you have a hole in your roof, you will want to put up a tarp to prevent more water from getting. Besides this, you will also want to take steps to keep you and your family safe, with an excellent example being using flashlights when you get up at night so that you won’t bump into unnoticed objects. With that said, if your home is unlivable, you shouldn’t try to tough it out but instead head for shelter elsewhere.