Understanding Flood Water Damage: Risks, Historical Data and Preventive Measures

Understanding

Flood water damage is the most damaging of all kinds of water related residential/commercial damage. Flood waters can be caused by a number of factors. One of the most common is caused by the clogging of city drainage due to garbage, soil deposits and ineffective drainage systems. When natural disasters happen like hurricanes, the volume of water can increase radically, causing dangerous floods. Floods are usually fast moving streams of water and can lift up cars due to its immense volume and speed. On top of that, it carries earth, garbage and other materials from one point to another. Understand that a lot of cities and communities are at risk of flooding including low lying areas. Hurricane paths are mostly affected by such conditions and it is everybody’s obligation to understand how to address flood water damage and mitigate the situation.

Notable floods

Throughout the years, there have been high profiles flooding incidents that have been recorded across the US. Some of the notable ones are as follows:

– The 1889 Johnston PA flooding resulted to a death toll of 2200 water damage. This is due to the heavy rainfalls that instigated the collapse of South Fork Dam.
– The 1937 Mississippi Valley flood has taken the lives of 1100 people flooded the river and displaced around 600,000 people.
– In 1913, heavy rains across the Ohio River caused severe flooding with a death toll of 700 people.
– In 1997, the notable Red River Flood affected North Dakota and Minnesota. It affected several cities including Fargo, Winnipeg, East grand Forks and Grand Forks. The disaster caused billions of dollars in total.
– In 2005, the now infamous Hurricane Katrina caused significant damage in the New Orleans area as it has flooded a massive area of the city, resulting to 700 deaths and the displacement of thousands of people.

The National flood insurance program

Most commercial insurance programs do not cover such a disastrous peril and that is why flood water damage is a very costly thing for many home and business owners. That is why in 1968, the US Congress created the National flood insurance Act that gave birth to the National flood insurance program. This allowed those people affected by floods to buy insurance from the government to get coverage from the perils of floods. This an alternative to the already escalating costs of disaster assistance. Since 2010, millions of homes have already benefited from this program.

Finding flood water damage support

The program offers information about recovering from flood and preparing before, during and after the event. They also are connected to organizations like Better Business Bureau to find qualified contractors that can do repairs and address the renovation and remediation of molds. Flood water damage needs to be addressed as soon as possible. If the families can still fix the home, given that the overflow of water has already subsided. They offer links and resources from the official website about various methods to rebuild the home and keep it stronger, prevent the formation of mold and understand if you are at risk for future flooding.

Flood water damage and other related damages can wreck havoc to individual homes, communities and cities. It is necessary that homeowners inform themselves of the various information about keeping the house solid and protected against the dangers of flood waters. The government and other agencies as well as water damage experts are willing to extend their help by providing information and support to those whose homes were damaged caused by the forces of nature. By prior preparation and risk management, cities and individual homes will be able to address the potential dangers of river overflows, hurricanes and other sources of floods.

You may also like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *