Flood damage restoration
A flood is not a large leak. The water came from outside, which changes what is in it, what can be saved, who should go in first and what your insurance is likely to say. Everything below is federal guidance, quoted and linked.
Before you go back inside
CDC: if your home has damage, do not reenter until it has been examined by a building inspector for safety. Try to return during the daytime so that you do not have to use any lights. If you smell gas or suspect a leak, turn off the main gas valve, open all windows and leave your house immediately.
Power, before anything else
CDC draws the line at whether you would have to step into water. If there is standing water in the home and you can turn off the main power from a dry location, do that. If you must enter standing water to reach the main power switch, CDC says to call an electrician to turn it off.
And without exception: never turn power on or off yourself, or use an electric tool or appliance, while standing in water. There is no version of the drying schedule that is worth taking a shortcut here for.
What is actually in the water
CDC's framing is the honest one: we do not know exactly what is in floodwater at any given point in time. What it can contain is listed — human and livestock waste; household, medical and industrial hazardous waste, chemical, biological and radiological; and coal ash waste that can contain carcinogenic compounds such as arsenic, chromium and mercury.
The practical consequence is the guidance to stay out of the water, and to wear rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles if you must enter it. Wash the area of skin with soap and clean water as soon as possible. Clothes that were in flood or sewage water get washed in hot water and detergent before being used again.
Why this is two jobs
After a clean leak the question is drying. After a flood it is cleaning and drying, in that order, and the cleaning is what decides how much material stays. Porous things that soaked up contaminated water — carpet pad, insulation, soft furnishings — are generally removed rather than treated.
The clock still runs through all of it. CDC advises cleaning up and drying out fully and quickly, within 24 to 48 hours after a flood, which is the same window EPA gives for leaks. The difference is how much has to happen inside it.
Insurance, early rather than late
The Insurance Information Institute is direct: flood damage is excluded under standard homeowners and renters insurance policies, and separate flood insurance coverage is available for both. If a claim is going to exist, it exists under a different policy than the one most people assume, and that is worth establishing on day one. More general coverage questions are on our insurance page.
Questions people ask
When is it safe to go back in?
CDC gives two conditions worth treating as hard rules. If the home has damage, do not reenter until it has been examined by a building inspector for safety. And return during the daytime, so that you do not have to use any lights. Beyond that, the power and gas questions have to be settled before anything else.
Why is flood water handled so differently from a burst pipe?
Because of what is in it. CDC states that we do not know exactly what is in floodwater at any given point in time, and lists human and livestock waste; household, medical and industrial hazardous waste; and coal ash waste containing carcinogenic compounds such as arsenic, chromium and mercury. A clean supply line produces none of that.
What should I wear if I have to go in?
CDC says that if you must enter floodwater, wear rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles, and that the protection it recommends first is simply staying out of the water. Wash any skin that contacts it with soap and clean water as soon as possible, and wash contaminated clothes in hot water and detergent before reusing them.
Does homeowners insurance cover this?
Usually not on its own. The Insurance Information Institute states that flood damage is excluded under standard homeowners and renters insurance policies, and that separate flood insurance coverage is available for both. Whether you have it is the question to answer early rather than after the cleanup.
Does the 24 to 48 hour window still apply?
Yes — CDC advises cleaning up and drying out fully and quickly, within 24 to 48 hours after a flood. What changes is that drying is no longer the whole job, because the building also has to be cleaned.
Where this comes from
- EPA — A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home — Where the 24 to 48 hour drying window and the 10-square-foot rule of thumb come from.
- CDC — About Mold — Federal guidance to clean up and dry out fully within 24 to 48 hours of a flood.
- CDC — Safety Guidelines: Floodwater — What floodwater can carry, and why the advice is to stay out of it.
- CDC — Safety Guidelines: Reentering Your Flooded Home — Power, gas and when not to go back inside.
- FEMA — National Risk Index — County-level flood, hurricane and riverine risk used on the city pages.