Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with flood

Ok to use a public insurance adjuster?

neilkod — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:17:38 -0800

Flood! Will it be worthwhile for me to use a licensed public adjuster to handle a flood insurance claim? A neighbor, who has been in this position with both his own home and his rental properties recommended I consider a public insurance adjuster. I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. I'm trying to be a good mefite and honor the 'if it sounds too good to be true' axiom, but I need to make sure. We took on some damage (and two cars were totaled because of interior flooding) and I want to make sure I'm treated fairly.

Dead iMac - How screwed am I?

Bango Skank — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:30:36 -0800

My apartment flooded while I was away on vacation now my '07 iMac won't power up. So this is going to be a two-parter with specific questions about my computer and a general question about the nature of battery backups. I came home from an awesome week of vacation only to discover that we had torrential rains while I was gone and my apartment flooded (again) and sat wet for 4-5 days. Before I got home my landlord discovered what happened and did a pretty great job cleaning it up for me. He even paid to have professional cleaners come in and mop the floors and shampoo the rugs. Besides the stink of mildew and damp that will just take some time to dissipate the only main damage appears to be my computer and TV and the battery backups they were plugged into. The TV is an older model and while I'm sad to see it go I can accept that, but the computer is pretty heartbreaking.

The computer was sitting on top of a desk and did not get wet. It was plugged into a combination surge protector/battery backup that was plugged into the wall. The computer and battery backup were both switched off. The battery backup was full of muddy water.

Now my dear, sweet, beloved iMac will not power up, I press the power button and nothing at all happens. I have checked all the connections and I know it is plugged into a live outlet. Any suggestions of what it might be? I know that during heavy rains I get some pretty wicked power surges which is why I purchased the top-of-the-line battery backups in the first place. How would I even begin diagnosing the problem? Would I be a complete idiot to consider cracking this thing open and monkeying around in there myself? If the computer is now a doorstop what are the chances of recovering my data? (I don't have a backup of either my photos or my iTunes library [please don't lecture me I am already kicking myself hard enough!])

To add a degree of difficulty taking the computer to an Apple store is not an option. We do have at least one local computer repair place that claims to work on Macs but they do not have a great reputation. If this is not something I can deal with on my own I will either have to ship it to Apple (all on my dime - the warranty is long since expired) or trust that the local guy's bad reputation is unfounded.

The general question regarding battery backups is this - did I nullify the surge protection/current regulating abilities of my battery backup by switching it off? I was hoping to save some electricity while I was gone but in hindsight I am wondering if I made things worse by turning the power off.

Here comes the rain

selfnoise — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:10:37 -0800

My basement is currently flooding. Anything I can do before it stops raining? In Westbrook, Maine. Heavy rains. Water is coming through holes in the foundation. There's a drain... it was draining but no more... I think the storm drains may be full. No sump pump. Unfinished basement. Furnace and tank in basement on some blocks. Any suggestions other than wait it out and assess the wreckage tomorrow? I was bailing the puddle above the drain and I put a tray under the most obvious/fast hole, but there's no way I can keep up with it all night. Thanks!

Did I really just flood my car?

grablife365 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:55:27 -0800

How easy is it to flood a car? I think I might have. Does it sound likely and what do I do next? I drove down the street a little while ago (in the middle) and as I got further it got deeper. Enough to where I could hear it outside my car, if that makes sense. It was enough to splash at my lights with little effort by the time I got to turn around.
It was getting deeper instead of just being that deep to start with.
Instead of going further I turned back around. The whole sad trip didn't even last two minutes not counting the sitting in the drive (slightly elevated).

When I got back I sat outside and the car seemed fine. No water inside, all lights and battery seemed fine.I'm tempted to rin out and check since its been almost an hour.
Should I be worried or does it sound like a 50/50 at most? Will checking now cause damage?

Where did the water come from?

spacefire — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:06:29 -0800

Miystery Leak in apartment that we just purchased...where could it be coming from and how to proceed to ensure it doesn't occur again? We bought this apartment in as-is condition. It is on the ground floor of a building that used to be a bank since 1900s and was converted to condos in the 1980s. We did some renovation work and for about a week and a half since then everything appeared fine.
However, late night on Thursday I noticed water seeping from under the refrigerator. We do have a unit that came with the apt, bottom freezer style, and the freezer door has a broken hinge so sometimes it doesn't close properly. I naturally assumed the water was coming from the freezer/refrigerator, and moved the unit a bit, but the water was not coming from the refrigerator, rather, it seemed to be coming from the area without tiles shown in this picture (now dry):
where water was pooling

We have a cabinet over that area, now it is in the living room, I am afraid to put it back there.

We have a dishwasher and sink in the kitchen, but we haven't used those because of a small leak under the sink. Also, the floor appears slanted in the opposite direction, so water could not have come from the direction of the kitchen sink or dishwasher.

I kept mopping the water and eventually shut off the cold water from the water heater valve, and the flood seemed to stop.

But!

The next day I had plumbers come in and look at it, and we open all the valves and ran water in the bathroom (tub, sink, toilet) (which is adjacent to the kitchen, more on that later)...and the area stayed perfectly dry. Over the weekend, using these fixtures normally, no water appeared in the kitchen.

Now, as I said, the kitchen abuts the bathroom. The wall you saw in the picture is between the bathroom and kitchen and is empty inside. In the second picture you can see the area inside the wall where a big (drain?) pipe is coming through. The shot is taken from the bathroom and plumbers and I noticed evidence of prior water inside the wall, also what looked like recent moisture.

looking in the wall that separates the kitchen and bathroom, from behind toilet

The plumbers said to monitor that area, and that water was coming maybe from someone upstairs who had a flood or something. The said they didn't want to break into the wall yet. I asked the neighbors upstairs if they had any issues and they said nothing happened on their end, but there are six more floors above.

The water heater had been through a flood in the past as evidenced by rust on the bottom, but no recent moisture was noted, also, the water heater is on the other side of the bathroom from the kitchen.

The building management said that they cannot yet investigate unless the leak occurs again and they are called when there is actual water...which, if the leak occurs that late at night again, obviously is not an option. I sent them a report with photos of the areas, just to be on the record. Obviously it would be a lot of detective plumber work to figure out what happened and since it is not our fault someone else would have to pay for it.

I don't want the leak to occur again, because, if it does when we are not home and stays unchecked, it can do a lot of damage.

So, how should I proceed from here? If I keep on going with life and normal, we might end up with a lot of damage in the future. I can't keep a constant eye on that area and I also hate having the area bare and the cabinet in the living room. The volume of water observed is such that a simple towel placed there would not contain it.

I live in a condo and pay association fees...what can we do to ensure all the work that was put in the apartment doesn't go away. I don't think we have flood insurance but we have some form of liability insurance called HO6, I assume other owners in the building have it too and it would pay for the damages to our apt, but we have already been through one stressful period of time buying this place and getting it fixed up, and we don't have the time or energy to deal with all this.

That was mold ... right?

SpringAquifer — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:02:15 -0800

My apartment leaked, mold grew on the walls, and the maintenance guy just bleached off the outer layer ... right? Last week, my apartment leaked, and the walls got stained, as such.

This weekend, little black spots started popping up all over the place, as such.

Then the maintenance guys came in this morning to spray a cocktail of Clorox and Tilex, in which they dissolved some kind of "pill." This made all of the stains and spots instantaneously disappear, as such.

The maintenance guy said that there was never any mold -- just "hard water" stains -- and that residents tended to overreact to things that looked like mold. I am skeptical.

Am I correct in thinking that there was mold, and that they just bleached the hell out of the outer layer so I'd think everything was back to normal? Or were those spots indeed something benign?

Offsetting sea level rise: An engineering idea of Biblical proportions

0bvious — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:52:25 -0800

The seas are rising. Climate change has made it inevitable. I have a strange question... Assuming that world sea-level rises by 1 metre over the next hundred years - Would it be possible to cordon off a section of land, somewhere in the centre of a continent, and flood it to create an artificial ocean, thus reducing the consequences of the sea rise? This Biblical scale engineering feat must take these issues into account:

1. The section of land would have to be a very large 'bowl', in the centre of a continent, that is already below sea level. Another section of land, leading from the ocean to this central 'bowl' section, would have to be carved out to create the biggest dam system mankind has ever witnessed. Does somewhere like this exist?

2. The number of humans currently living in this 'bowl' would have to be less than the number of humans who would be displaced by the 1 metre sea level rise. Otherwise this huge engineering feat would not be worth undertaking.

3. Other environmental issues should be taken into account, such as the ecosystems that would be displaced or the new weather patterns and ocean currents that would be created.

Do you have the calculations of water/land displaced? Or ideas about where this kind of thing could be built? I'd love any input on this monstrous thought experiment.

Thanks!

Flood recovery options sans flood insurance

MysticMCJ — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:22:27 -0800

Flood recovery - What all do I need to be concerned with after my house flooded? My city, Louisville, just saw record rainfall. It appeared that the storm centered itself directly over my house, as the water levels raised several feet above the floor line. As a result, we are minus a few vehicles (all totaled) and had to pump out the entire basement, and then some.

We are working on getting the last bit of water out, then we are ventilating the house to assist in drying.

I already expect that we will have to replace the floors- every surface that's not tile shows significant damage. What else do we have to be concerned about?

Here's the kicker- no flood insurance. We live in an area of the city that has simply never seen a flood. Our insurance agent said that flood insurance probably wouldn't have covered this anyways. Can anyone explain that? Are there any sources of disaster relief that could assist us?

What I am ultimaty looking for - what all, aside from clean up, can I do to not only make the house liveable, but pass a home inspection for resale? And who can I contract out some of this to, while staying on a budget?

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm still shocked that it happened.

Where is my "Oh shit" dashboard?

jlowen — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:43:34 -0800

How do I understand floodplain maps? Just how high does the river near my house need to get before my house floods? This is just out of curiosity, I am in absolute no immediate threat of this happening. (As far as I know)

I live on Lawrence, Kansas just a couple hundred feed from the Kansas River. My house is protected by a levee and is listed by a FEMA flood plain map as being in a "Zone X" which I interpret to mean a 500 year flood plain.

Here is the flood map of my neighborhood. I live on Ash Street - In case the map link does not work, here is the same street on Google Maps) Here is the closest USGS river measurement station.

Every spring I watch the river get high and wonder "Just how high does it need to get before my house floods?" Can anyone point me to the data indicator I could watch and at what level I should start worrying?

Basement flooded - who's responsible for it?

thebwit — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 10:36:42 -0800

Need some landlord/tenant advice. Basement flooded and my insurance say it doesn't cover it due to negligence by the landlord. Full details inside. Ok I am putting some feelers out for this because the situation just sucks.

I am renting and my basement flooded. My renters insurance doesn't cover my personal property because apparently I didn't take the "water by back up plan" which was never offered to me. My insurance company also states that my landlord's insurance should cover my stuff due to negligence (more on that in a sec). Landlord's insurance company claims my insurance should cover it unless I didn't get the "water by back up plan".

Now here's what caused the problem. There are 2 sump pumps. The main one, and one by the water heater. Neither one of these pumps were working properly. Had one been working properly then the basement wouldn't have flooded. On top of that the main sump pump was not even installed up to code. And I am pretty sure that the basement was not finished up to code at all.

So the question is, is my landlord liable for my personal property because of his negligence or am I just SOL?

How to make Gas company pay for water damage they caused?

sirhensley — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:57:53 -0800

The Gas Company installed a new meter this week and broke my sprinkler line. My house and garage are now slightly flooded and laminate flooring that was just installed 1 month ago is ruined. How to I make the Gas Co. pay for the repairs? Three or four days ago the Southern California Gas Company installed a new gas meter at my house while we were not home. This evening I noticed that my dining room floor and garage were flooded with water right around the area of the gas meter. Upon inspection of the area outside by the gas meter I can see that a sprinkler (which is about 1 foot away from the gas meter) has been completely broken off the water line. It appears that this has let a high flow of water fill up in the planter and leak into the house and garage.

Can someone please help me follow the proper steps to ensure the Gas Company takes responsibility for this and handles cleanup & repair costs? I have few items in the garage that have been ruined, but more importantly we just installed laminate flooring in the dining room a month ago and it is also ruined now.

Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated to handle this right away.

Thanks.

You want money for what?

razdrez — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:29:38 -0800

What are some free/public source of VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) based info? Carfax charges $20 to rehash (what I think is) public information. I'd like to gather sources so I can do it / offer it for free. Does anyone know of flood / salvage / etc sites I could grab the data from?

Should I fix my flooded car or should I just get a new one?

kosmonaut — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:13:43 -0800

Should I fix my flooded car or should I just get a new one? I recently drove my 2002 Saturn SL2 (59,300 miles) into a puddle of water during a rainstorm; the car stalled and a couple of inches of water flooded onto the floor. I immediately pushed the car out and bailed out the water with a bucket the best I could. I towed the car to a mechanic the next morning, and after looking at it, they told me I needed a new engine (and possibly replacement carpeting -- my call). Luckily, this damage is covered by insurance.

Mechanic's damage estimate (incl. labor):
$3400 for new engine (subtract 500-600 for used one)
$575 for new carpet (subtract a couple hundred for cleaning flooded ones)
No electrical damage

My insurance company appraised the damage and wanted to total it, offering me around $6100. With that money, I could fix the car (insurance people told me it would not affect my ability for coverage) and keep the difference, minus the salvage value of $895.

Besides this massive screw-up, I had taken excellent care of the car, and I've had virtually no problems at all with it from the day I bought it. I had planned to own this car for a long time; probably whatever replacement car I get will not be as nice as what I had (sunroof, power everything, traction control, etc.).

Should I fix this car, or should I just take the money and buy a used car? (I don't have the money to just put this as a down payment on a new car, or one of significantly higher value than the $6100.) I loved this car and I want to keep it, but not if the car is just going to be a nightmare from now on.

Has anyone had experience fixing a flooded car? Was it worth it? Should I worry about future problems?

Turn off Instiki spam/flood protection

djgh — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:18:36 -0800

Is there any way to stop spam protection on Instiki? I run a local version of Instiki (0.12) on my Mac (OSX 10.4.11) which I keep notes on. This isn't an as-you-go operation - I'll take notes by hand, and then at the end of the day or week sit down and try and type them all in.

Problem is, Instiki's flood/spam protection is stopping me. Is there any way of turning it off? I'm more than happy to dive in using Terminal. I've Googled around, but there doesn't seem to be a ready-made solution yet.

San Francisco Storms

mto — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:39:38 -0800

Should I be scared of these 3 big storms about to slam into San Francisco? The news has been going on and on about these storms. The city is giving away sandbags. They're mentioning hurricane force winds. It's freaking me out. How scared should I be? You can see about where I live in my user profile.

I bought a bunch of food I can make w/ my camping stove and some extra water. Should I be doing anything more to prepare? Is my neighborhood likely to flood? (Bernal Heights)?

Also, and most importantly, how likely are these storms to produce a tornado? I hate tornados, I left the midwest thinking I'd never have to worry about another tornado again.

Is there anything we can do to help prevent or minimize flooding in a finished basement?

designmartini — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:07:20 -0800

Is there anything we can do to help prevent or minimize flooding in a finished basement? My boyfriend and I have just signed a lease to rent a townhouse with a large basement in NYC (which in itself is an anomaly, but that's another discussion). We'd like to use the basement as an extra bedroom for guests and as a place for my boyfriend's "office", but we're concerned about potential water damage from flooding.

The basement itself is finished, but with linoleum floors unlike the hard-wood floors in the rest of the house. We saw the place before it was cleaned, and it is clear that there is some water damage to the tiling, although it doesn't look like the water was very high. Also, there is evidence that the previous tenants didn't take very good care of the basement, so it's hard to tell what was the result of unavoidable flooding and what was just their lack of care.

Other details that might be relevant: the basement has 4 windows, and a door that leads to an outside "shed" with a small drainage hole in the center. It houses the electrical/ hot water/ boiler for the building, and also has a connection to the NYC sewage pipes (that's something I'm hoping we don't have to mess with). There's a washer/dryer and bathroom in the basement, so it's clear that the basement is functional at least some of the time.

I've read several threads on MeFi about clearing out water from an already flooded basement, but I'd like tips about preventing it or minimizing the damage. We understand that some water might be unavoidable, but we'd like to keep the space functional. Our landlord isn't going to provide much in the way of service for this problem, if it occurs, so it's pretty much up to us.

Suggestions? Experience? Thanks!

How can I keep my carpet dry?

arnicae — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:37:42 -0800

Water is seeping out of my aquarium onto my rug. Is there anything I can use to absorb the water? We recently installed a sump into our marine saltwater system. More tubes, a bigger pump, and of course another separate aquarium were added to the system. We've been having a persistent problem with water leakage- usually several pints at a time, but up to a gallon. Obviously, the long-term solution is figuring out what is causing the leak, but for now I'm trying to find a way to keep the water from soaking my carpet. (It's low-quality, but aggravating to be walking to the bathroom in socks and step into soggy frigid water, and I know I'll be doing long-term damage to the carpet and/or the floor beneath it)

Any ideas? Would a chamois similar to what is used at a car wash work? Any thoughts on how to mitigate the damage to the floor beneath?

Thanks in advance.

How do you drain a slightly flooded basement on the cheap?

sandswipe — Sun, 06 May 2007 08:08:53 -0800

Wetvacing isn't working, are there any less frustrating ways to get low - but still really damaging- amounts of water out of a basement for preferably less then two hundred dollars? During major storms my basement floods. Nothing apocalyptic most of the time, just a constant trickle. Only problem is, that trickle goes on for hours, and without intervention we get a whole lot of standing water. Every time I google I see solutions for draining basements that were at least four feet under water, but doing this procedure it rarely gets to one inch. My stuff on the ground and my afternoon are still ruined.

I'm seventeen, m, and due to space constraints in my house and dealing with my mom too often I've moved a couple couches and tvs with all my gaming stuff and my computer down there. This usually isn't a problem since I keep everything off the ground and have a linoleum floor laid directly on concrete, but it's really a hassle.

Every time it floods my mom goes through the same procedure to try and drain it: use a wetvac (vacuum for water, basically) to drain a little water from the 17x13 basement, empty the watvac into a small (under two feet tall by 16' diameter) unused trashcan, and get either me or a friend who's staying with us to carry these loads outside for dumping.

I've tried to suggest other methods, but due to cost she refuses to hire a contractor or preform any expensive repairs, citing status as a single mother in a dead-end city government position. The water enters through the EXACT CENTER of the house, through some concrete stairs, so we aren't sure where it comes in. We've sealed a lot of places around the outside of the house, but it doesn't seem to have helped a whole lot.

Once we tried setting the wetvac outside the window and snaking the hose in, leaving it open to continuously drain, but we have gotten a larger vac since then and the hose wouldn't fit through the window. It's the venecian blinds style window, small, sitting right in the corner six feet up, ground level outside, I'm not sure how else to describe it.

Any help with this problem would be appreciated as soon as possible; there is a flood warning in effect for my area for the next day, and a chance of storms through wednesday.

Getting rid of leak-induced smell in my apartment

Marit — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:06:02 -0800

A toilet two floors above me overflowed, resulting in a deluge of foul-smelling water. What can I do about the unholy stench? The tenant above me got hit the worst, but I still had a considerable amount of water pouring down. Luckily it wasn't over my bed or my books. Anyway, the smell is appalling and it permeates everything.

Does anyone from a similar experience have a magic bullet for horrible leak-induced reekage? All my smell-reducing experience is for specific surfaces or small contained areas -- faced with an entire apartment that smells, I don't know where to begin. Moving and/or sticking it to my landlord are not options at the moment.

Should I be worried about an upcoming IRS audit?

jasonspaceman — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 07:27:21 -0800

I have an audit meeting with the IRS coming up. What can I/should I expect? Back in 2004, we had flooding in our area. We had at least a foot of standing water at one point then mold started to grow. We applied for aid and we ended up being able to get a low interest small business loan through the goverment, which we are paying back right now. We still have all of our receipts and paperwork from that time, but the idea that the IRS wants another look at everything seems a bit odd.

Should I be worried or is something like this procedural?

Basements and mold and carpet

adampsyche — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 10:45:30 -0800

Basements, mildew, and mold, oh my... I live in a reverse duplex, with the bedrooms in the basement. The storms that ripped through the NYC region Friday left me with a flooded basement, which has since receded, but left the carpets very wet. My landlord came by and used a wet vac to get water up, but it's still damp, and starting to smell like mildew.

From what I've read, this is no good, and the carpet needs to be replaced. My landlord keeps trying to skimp around it, and is having a carpet cleaner come out tomorrow. Is there any chance that this will work, or should I tell him not to bother (which then opens the other can of worms, but I'll work with that later...)?

He told me in heaven that every everything is fine

fandango_matt — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:13:42 -0800

Let's assume (no soapbox rants, please!) global warming is a reality, the ice covering Greenland is melting, and the ocean's levels are rising. If I own a home and land which, according to this map, would be underwater, what--if anything--would the government do? I live near a major (federal) interstate, two major shipping ports, and a rail corridor linking the two. San Francisco and Oakland International Airports would also be underwater. What happens? Would they build a gigantic dike, like New Orleans and Holland? Is my home and the land on which it's built a total loss? If so, insurance-wise, is this considered an "Act of God"? If I was to put my home on the market tomorrow, must I declare global warming and the rising ocean levels as a possibility for flooding?

I am not rational right now, and need advice.

croutonsupafreak — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 08:54:50 -0800

What's the best way to approach our hippie landlord so that he agrees to waive our July rent? Two weeks ago, a mysterious leak appeared in the corner ceiling in our bedroom, flooding a basket of freshly laundered clothes. We told the landlord, and though he never actually came to look at things in our unit he told us he took care of stuff upstairs and we had nothing to worry about.

Yesterday, a chunk of ceiling in the middle of the room fell down. Water soaked through the bed, box springs and floor and flooded our unfinished basement while we were at work.

Our box springs are destroyed. We slept on a soggy mattress last night. There's a hole in the ceiling and a mess in our home and I'm feeling majorly inconvenienced and not a little outraged.

I think it's reasonable to get a month off our rent, since our monthly rent is less than we paid for the bed new two years ago. But I'm the opposite of pushy and assertive, and that goes doubly so for my significant other.

How best should we approach this situation so we get what we want?

How do I disinfect my lawn from floodwaters?

kraagenskul — Wed, 17 May 2006 07:57:46 -0800

The Merrimack River in Massachusetts decided to become part of my backyard these past few days, but thankfully has receded. My question is, how do I disinfect my lawn from all the bacteria and what not that was in the river without actually killing the lawn?

Flood Insurance Question

space2k — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:35:48 -0800

My house recently flooded. Fortunately, we have flood insurance. Our adjuster claimed that we needed to remove our floors (hardwood and tile) throughout the house and replace. Our contractor (who I trust) said that's not necessary, that only re-finishing is required. Because of the discrepancy, I stand to pocket a chunk of change on the deal. The contractors are finishing up, and sure enough, I've received an insurance check that covers the work the adjuster described. The check has to be co-signed by my mortgage lender, who I've spoken to and says that they will simply endorse and send back to me. Then, it's mine to deposit.

I know of only one catch: If my home floods again and we haven't done the work the adjuster paid for, they won't pay for it again. Frankly, that's a risk I'm willing to take. The area hasn't flooded like this in the 50+ years since it was developed, and the cash I stand to make is 5 figures.

This must have happened to someone else out there - do I have any legal, tax or other worries that I haven't thought of?