After a flood, the damage you see is half the damage. The other half hides in the walls, under the floors, and in the appliances that sat in water. Checking the house properly takes an hour and a flashlight — and it decides what is safe to touch, what needs a professional, and what the insurance company needs to see.
Do not walk into standing water: it may hide live electricity, sharp debris, or sewage. If the water reached the electrical panel, do not touch the panel — call an electrician. If you smell gas, do not enter at all and call the gas company from outside. Wear boots, gloves, and a mask: floodwater carries bacteria, and the mud it leaves behind is not clean dirt.
Cut the power. If it is safe — dry hands, dry ground, a dry panel — turn the power off at the main breaker. If the panel is wet, or you are standing in water, do not touch it: call an electrician. Power off first, everything else second.
Photograph everything. Photograph every room before you move anything: the water line on the walls, the damaged furniture, the ruined boxes. Insurance needs the damage as it was, not as it looked after you cleaned up. Photograph first, clean second.
Check the structure. Look for cracks in the foundation, walls that bow, and floors that buckle. If the structure moved, stay out and call a building inspector — a house with a shifted foundation is not safe to enter, and the damage is not a DIY judgment.
Check the water. Do not drink the tap water until it is cleared — floodwater can contaminate the supply. Well water needs testing before anyone drinks it. If the water is sewage, stay out and call a professional: sewage is a biohazard, not a cleaning job.
Check the appliances. Gas appliances need a professional before they are relit — water in a gas valve is dangerous. Electrical appliances that sat in water are done: do not plug them in to test them. A furnace or water heater that flooded needs a technician before it runs again.
Start the drying. Once the house is checked and safe, start drying: pump the water out, open the windows, and run fans and a dehumidifier. The flooded basement drying guide covers the drying itself, and the flooded basement cleanup checklist covers the first 24 hours. Prevention is the next job — the basement flooding prevention guide covers how to keep it from happening again.
Sewage water, structural damage, a wet electrical panel, gas appliances, and mold over 10 square feet — all five need a professional. Mold starts in 24–48 hours, so the clock runs from the moment the water leaves. A professional remediation crew handles the sewage and the mold; a building inspector handles the structure; an electrician handles the panel.
Photograph first, throw away nothing until the adjuster sees it, and keep every receipt for the cleanup. Flood damage is often a separate policy from homeowners insurance — check what yours covers before you assume. A list of what was damaged, with photos and purchase dates, is what the claim runs on.
Only after the power is off and the water is gone — and never if the water is sewage or the structure moved. If the panel is wet or you smell gas, stay out and call a professional.
Assume it is. Floodwater carries sewage, chemicals, and bacteria. Do not drink the tap water until it is cleared, and treat well water as contaminated until it is tested.
Solid wood sometimes, if it dries fast. Upholstered furniture and mattresses that soaked in floodwater are usually done — they hold bacteria and mold that cleaning cannot remove.
24–48 hours. That is why drying starts the same day the water leaves — every day of delay is mold growing in the walls and the floors.