FAQ: Your house flooded. Now what?

The biggest threat in a hurricane isn’t the wind, it’s the water. From the mountains of western North Carolina to the Florida coast, communities were inundated by torrential rain and flooding from Hurricane Helene.

There’s still another two months left in hurricane season. It helps to know that flooding from heavy rain can happen just about any time, anywhere, as climate change makes torrential downpours more common. 

As the water recedes, the long, slow process of recovery begins. Here’s what you need to know to prepare for flood waters, and how to start picking up the pieces when the water’s gone.

My house flooded. What should I do first?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the first thing you should do is check for things like damaged power and gas lines and cracks in the foundation to make sure it’s safe to go inside.

If it is, and there’s no standing water in the house, go to the circuit breaker box and turn off the electricity. If you smell natural gas or propane, or hear a hissing sound, FEMA says to contact the fire department immediately. And put distance between you and the house.

Then you’ll want to check to see how high the water rose. If it got above your house’s electrical sockets, you should call an electrician to make sure the system is safe to use, says Brad Hubbard, president of National Flood Experts, an engineering firm.

“You don’t want to, obviously, put live electricity through a wet situation,” Hubbard says.

What if I couldn’t evacuate and I’m stuck on the upper floor of my house? Should I wade through the water to get out or wait for help?

Flood water is dangerous. It can electrocute you, and there’s often debris, sewage and toxic chemicals in it. So, if you can wait for the water to recede or for help to come, that’s your best bet, says Jennifer Horney, a professor at the University of Delaware who studies the public-health impacts of disasters.

If you have to enter a flooded area, Horney says you should take precautions, like wearing sturdy shoes to protect your feet and trying to keep open wounds from coming into contact with the water.

“People die in storms all the time from taking a risk that they don’t need to,” Hubbard says. “If you’re trying to save a person, go for it. If you’re trying to save your car or a piece of property, it is not worth it.”

It’s safe to go back inside my house. Now what?

Use your cell phone to take a ton of pictures of the outside and the inside of your house. You’re documenting the damage and trying to show how high the water got. That’s important for making an insurance claim or applying for federal assistance. The more pictures, the better, Hubbard says.

If you have flood insurance, file a claim as soon as possible. “Get your name on the list,” Hubbard says. “There are tens of thousands of people who are dealing with this right now, and [insurers are] just going to go down the list. So, the quicker you get on the list, the quicker that this is all going to be resolved for you.”

Then you need to dry your house as fast as possible. That means ripping up carpets, removing furniture and cutting out drywall starting a foot above the water line.

Keep in mind that after disasters, electricians, contractors and other people who help with recovery are in short supply. Hubbard says be patient with them. “We all live in these areas that we serve,” he says, “and it means that when there’s a storm, the people who are trying to help you are also dealing with their own problems.”

What about next time?

Take precautions beforehand if possible. Photograph your home, possessions and valuables before an extreme weather event hits, to use for insurance claims. If there’s a flood threat, put valuables on top of kitchen counters or on a second floor if you have one. You can also put important items inside of a dishwasher, which is watertight, Hubbard says.

Preparation also includes taking stock of the risks you face. Only about 4% of homeowners nationwide have flood insurance. When disasters like Helene happen, people without flood insurance are often left to shoulder the costs themselves, which can have profound consequences.

“This will be a material financial event for them and could change the course of their life,” says Matthew Eby, chief executive of First Street, which models climate risk.

You can go to FirstStreet.org, type in your address and see what kinds of risk your property faces. “You can discover that I do have flood risk when I may not have known that,” Eby says, “and I can look at what solutions might exist.”