8 Ways to Protect Your Home During a Flood

Flood never comes with an alarm and can strike people unaware. It doesn’t matter how furious a flood is, as even a small scale flood can damage the property worth thousands of dollars. The key is to protect your home with an elaborate disaster planning before the flood strikes and with proper home maintenance before as well as after the flood strikes.

Step 1 - Flood Insurance

If you already have some kind of property insurance and think that it will be suffice, then you need to reconsider, as a standard home insurance will never cover each and every damages inflicted upon by the flood. To insure your house against the damages of flood, you need to have a flood insurance that becomes all the more necessary in case your house is in a high risk zone.

Step 2 - Food Stores and First Aid

Make it clear to all of your family members where they can find the foods and the first aid supply in case of any eventuality during the flood. Don’t forget to keep those supplies at a place, where flood water could hardly reach. There is a large possibility that the flood water would be contaminated with some spilled chemicals and sewage water.

Step 3 - Gas and Electricity Supply

It is imperative to turn off the gas supply as well as the electricity supply, as you face the risk of electrocution or some fire accidents, during the flood. Even if you need to use some electrical appliances, try to avoid their use for as long as possible. You will never want to see your house burning down with the flood water around. 

Step 4 - Save Your Valuable Items

If there is any possibility of the flood striking your area, you should immediately relocate all of your valuables from the basement to some place, which can remain out of the reach of flood waters. Put your important papers and documents in some water-tight containers.

Step 5 - Escape Plan

It is very much likely that the members of a family get separated during the flood and this makes the situation all the more difficult for each of them. So, try to formulate an escape plan and select a common meeting point for all of the family members and make sure that the meeting point is the safest place, as far as flood is concerned. Don’t forget the pets too. Try to include some emergency shelters for the pets in your disaster planning.

Step 6 - Keep Away the Flood Water

Try to restrict the flood water from reaching the perimeter of your house for as long as possible. To do this, you will need to seal all the air bricks, put the flood barriers against the doors and windows and use the sandbags around the perimeter of the house. Don’t forget to plug in your sink as well, as the flood water can also surge up through the drains.

Step 7 - The Call for Evacuation

Do not ignore the call for evacuation, as the evacuation call is only made when it is ascertained that the flood is going to show its worst face and is ready to devastate anything that comes in its way. Even if not, the flood water can deteriorate your health quickly.

Step 8 - Emergency Measures

Store as much fresh water as you can in the jugs, saucepans or in any vessel you can find. Have some floodlights with spare batteries. Keep the radio turned on or at least turn it on at regular intervals lest you fail to hear some important announcement being broadcasted by your local government and NGOs.