What should I do first after river water comes in?
Stay out of standing water, keep children and pets away from it, and switch off power to flooded areas at the breaker only if the panel is dry and you can reach it safely. Photograph the damage and the silt line, and call for a crew with the depth and the rooms affected.
River water can carry sewage, chemicals and debris, so direct contact with it is a health risk as well as a damage problem. Wear waterproof boots and gloves if you have to step in, and wash your hands and any exposed skin afterward. Do not wade into a cellar that is still full, and do not try to run a pump in it.
Photographs are the most useful record you can make before anything is moved. Take wide shots of each room, close shots of the silt line on the walls and the damage on the floor, and a few of the outside of the house showing the water level if it is safe to do so. A dated note of the depth and the times the water came and went helps the insurer.
Why is river floodwater treated as contaminated water?
Floodwater picks up silt, sewage, fuel, chemicals and debris as it moves across land and through streets. Because the water's source is mixed, it is handled with the same care as contaminated water, and the crew uses protective gear and sealed disposal for what it removes.
Water from a river has passed over roads, yards and buildings before it reached your house, and it can carry anything that was in its path. A supply-line leak is usually clean at the start. River water is not. The crew assumes the worst until it has seen what the water carried.
The practical effect is that more materials are removed. Porous materials that soaked up floodwater, such as carpet, pad, some insulation and some drywall, are often not safe to keep. Hard surfaces are cleaned and disinfected where they can be. The crew explains each removal and records the reason for it.
What makes a river flood cleanup cost more or less?
The depth of the water, how long it stood, the number of rooms affected, the amount of silt and debris, and the materials it reached all shape the work. The price for each stage is explained and approved before it starts, and no figure is given on this page.
A cellar that held water for several days needs more removal, more cleaning and more drying than a first floor that was wet for a few hours. Silt is slow and labor-intensive to remove from a cellar floor. The number of rooms, the stairs and the access for equipment also change the time on site.
The materials in the house matter as well. Plaster and lath, older framing and finished wood trim each need their own readings and their own decisions about what can be saved. Each factor is named at the first visit and written into the scope, so you can see what each stage involves before it starts.
How do I know when the house is safe to re-enter?
A flooded house is safe to live in once the structure is stable, the power and gas have been checked by the right people, the silt is removed and the materials have been dried to the dry standard. Until then, the rooms the water reached should be kept closed off.
The crew, the power company, an electrician and, where there is a gas appliance that was under water, the gas utility each have a part in that decision. The crew confirms the structure and the removal work. The electrician confirms the circuits. The gas appliance is checked before it is used again.
Until those checks are complete, keep out of the rooms the water reached. Dust from dried silt can be irritating, and a room that looks clean may still hold material in the cavities or under the floor. The crew will tell you when each area has been cleared and dried.
What does the insurer need to see after a flood?
The insurer needs the cause of the water, the damage it did and the steps taken to limit further loss. Photographs before cleanup, the crew's readings, the scope, the removal list and the final dry-standard record are the core of that file. Your policy and your insurer decide what is covered.
Flood losses are often covered under a separate policy or endorsement, and a standard homeowner policy may not respond to water that came in from a river. Read the policy to see what it says about flood and about water from outside the house, and ask the insurer to explain any term you do not understand.
Keep every invoice, every receipt for emergency work and every note of who came to the house and when. The crew's records help show the cause and the extent of the damage, and the steps taken to limit it. The insurer makes the decision under the policy, and a state regulator, the New York State Department of Financial Services, handles complaints about insurers.
