Whether you live in the middle of the United States or on the coast, you are never safe of the dangers of flooding in your home. If you’re from one of the landlocked states, such as Indiana, you may not be in danger of the same types of frequent flooding from the yearly tropical storms that visit the coastal states each year, but there are other flooding issues you may still have to deal with.
Flooding at Home
Flooding in your home can occur due to an external or internal factor such as a storm or bathroom flooding. First of all, you should determine how bad the issue of flooding is. If the water is moving through your home, there are different steps you should take to ensure that your home is safe and clean.
- Animals, bugs, and snakes may be swimming in the water that is running through your house, as well as moldy items, driftwood and any number of things. Stay out of it until it recedes enough to clean thoroughly.
- Just six inches of moving water can knock a grown man off of his feet. In fact, flash flooding is the number one cause of drowning deaths.
- Turn the electricity off right away. Appliances may actually shock you even when turned off if they are still connected to live electricity.
- Watch where you walk. Anything that has been covered with water may have debris, nails or mud covering the surface which can cause falls and other accidents in the home.
- Not only should you turn off electricity, but you should also turn off the gas in your home. Make sure you don’t inspect the area of a suspected gas leak with a open flame, use only a flashlight.
Flooding in the Community
Second, the flooding has most likely expanded outside of the range of your home, especially if there is a flash flood situation.
- Do not drive cars into flooded areas or ignore road barriers. Cars are the most common location for drowning victims.
- Stay away from power lines and electrical wires. Electrocution is also a major cause of deaths during flood conditions. Electric currents travel well through water.
- Community clean-up is important. Everything should be cleaned up both inside and outside your home. If you don’t take care of proper clean-up methods illness and injury may occur and cause additional issues.
These are just a few of the precautions you should take when flash flooding occurs in your hometown. However, as we learned above not all floods are external. There are some floods that start inside the home from water pipe leak, an overflowed tub or toilet, or even a broken dishwasher or washing machine.
If these types of situations occur in your home, you may have to call for help to adequately clean up your home. APEX offers water remediation techniques and can be especially helpful in the prevention of mold in your home after a flooding incident.
You should make sure you give the area at least 3 to 5 days to dry and air out completely before moving furniture, rugs or anything else back into the room. Of course, there is much more that you can do to ensure that flooding is properly taken care of, including purchasing flood insurance as a preemptive action.
Heidi Rothert writes content for APEX, a water disaster clean up company in Alabama, to help drive online awareness and website traffic.
