Is a Flood Coming? Learn How to Keep Your Home, Personal Property, and Family Safe

When weather alerts notify you of a flood that is about to come through where you live, it may be a very terrifying experience for the whole family. There is a great potential for your home to become damaged by water, and there is not a thing you are able to do to stop it. Follow these tips for keeping your home, personal property, and family safe during a flood.

Shut Down All Electricity in the House

When flooding seems imminent, you should shut down all power flowing throughout your home. Electricity and water do not mix, and if water does enter your home, it's possible for a fire to start when water comes in contact with electrical outlets or electrical components in your home.

Shut down the power at the main breaker box in your home, and don't turn the electricity back on if water entered your house. Doing so will prevent additional damage that will need to be repaired by a water damage restoration contractor.

Elevate the Furniture

Raising your furniture off the floor is a good idea for two reasons. If you only have a few inches of flood water, placing furniture on cinder blocks can be an easy way to save your furniture from being damaged by water. Avoid using wood to elevate furniture, because water can soak into the wood and eventually reach the fabric of the furniture resting on it. Anything you can do to mitigate damage will help ease the amount of repairs that need to be done, which includes furniture.

Keep Important Items Up High

Stop and think about important items that your family will need if the flood damage is bad, such as medication. Gather these items and keep them high off the ground. It will ensure that these items will not be damaged by the water and will help make them easy to find.

You should also take valuable items that are at floor level, such as family photo albums on a bookshelf, and raise those high off the ground as well. While your home can be repaired, some things can never be restored if they are destroyed during a flood.

Once the worst is over, you can then focus on contacting a water damage restoration company like Servpro Of South Elkhart Co to help restore your home to the way it used to be before the flood came through.