What Should You Do When Hurricanes Cause Flash Flooding for Orlando Homes?

9/18/2020 (Permalink)

Our professionals are available anytime that you need us by calling (407) 226-2621.

Having an emergency plan can ensure that the right mitigation and recovery steps get started promptly in your damaged Orlando house.

Hurricane season spans months, and this means that for this time, Orlando homes and businesses could always be at risk for rapidly developing powerful storm systems. With torrential rainfall and other devastating conditions, structural damage and flooding are both possibilities.

The objective of flood removal for Orlando homes is rarely for preserving the exposed materials and contents, mostly when natural flooding and flash flooding emergencies occur. The high probability of contamination often makes water removal a necessary action to protect elements of the house that have yet to be impacted by migrating loss effects.

What Should You Do When Flooding Begins in Your House?
As much as many homeowners might wish for a long list of actions that they can take when flooding occurs, that can make restoration efficient and keep costs to a minimum, but this is rarely the case. In most situations, the possible approaches that a property owner can take are often limited to retrieving their prized valuables and keepsakes and ensuring that utilities get shut off to the property if possible to reduce injury hazards for responding technicians. Last-minute actions include:

    •    Content Relocation
    •    Shut Off Utilities
    •    Vacate the Premises

What Pre-Mitigation Evaluation Data Gets Collected?
Evaluating the property as quickly and completely as possible prepares technicians for what to expect when we dispatch from our warehouse. The data collected and questions answered all play a role in the efficient recovery of the property after a flood.

Customer Concerns – After a flood, homeowners have their shortlist of priorities for responding technicians and contractors from our SERVPRO team. We also prioritize these requests to ease the stress of restoration.

Flood Damage – The current damages in a structure can have immediate ramifications for contents, occupants, and restoration obstacles. We thoroughly inspect the entire home after a flood to catalog and record all present compromises.

Contamination – Learning which contents and structural elements have become exposed to contaminants like bacterial and viral pathogens brought in with natural flooding, we can determine demolition and disinfection needs.

Content Damage and Inventory – Another action required before mitigation is choosing when to relocate contents in the path of migrating floodwater. By placing these items in a dry, safe location, we can prevent irreparable damage. When these items are already damaged, we can catalog these damages and inventory individual belongings before transporting them to our nearby SERVPRO facility.

What Tools Remove Standing Water and Trapped Water?
Flash flooding and natural flooding can require fast extraction to protect other areas of the house. Often direct exposure with potentially contaminated water can lead to a need for controlled demolition and replacement, though extraction often happens before this demolition is possible. Standing water presents a persistent threat to the property until the pooling gets eliminated from the residence's affected areas.

Carpet Wands – With how quickly carpeting can absorb moisture from standing water after a flood, many of these flooring materials must be removed and replaced. We have extraction tools like carpet wands to pull trapped water from the upper layer of the flooring system for uncontaminated areas.

Wet Vacuums – Wet vacuums are among the most versatile of the tools in our inventory, and this is due mainly to the versatility of these units and their portability. These vacuums can support multiple attachments to perform the extraction in challenging areas or trapped in materials.

Submersible Pumps – Using specific tools like submersible pumps, we can move hundreds of gallons an hour in residential applications. After natural flooding, submersible pumps need to have sufficient intake and discharge lines to accommodate the present debris and solids in the pooling.

How Much of the House Requires Demolition?
Initial demolition is often determined based on job scoping by our project manager. Oversaturation, warping, and deterioration are all deciding factors in which building materials require removal and discarding. A thorough inspection of the property is necessary after mitigation and restoration efforts have completed, as well. This evaluation determines what structural elements require replacement. During these recovery stages, our professionals can better understand the progress of cleaning and drying efforts, which can often indicate early on when further demolition or repairs might be necessary.

Flash flooding can be a quickly forming threat for your residence. With the force of these emergencies against your house's vulnerable points, or when saturation occurs with interior materials, our SERVPRO of South Orange County team can help. Our professionals are available anytime that you need us by calling (407) 226-2621.