Extraction, moisture mapping and drying for Suffolk homes flooded by a hurricane or a tropical storm.
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Hurricane flood cleanup is the work of removing water from a home after a storm has pushed rain, river water or street flooding into it. Suffolk Water Damage Restoration connects callers with a local crew, sent as soon as one is free, to extract the water, take moisture readings and dry the structure. The price is explained on site and approved before work starts.
Hurricane Matthew reached Suffolk in October 2016, and Hampton Roads felt more impact than the forecast had expected. Homes on Gates Road flooded, and one resident reported water more than six feet deep. Downtown, a creek crossed a road and swept a car away. Those were the visible results of a storm that left water in many places and for many days, and the cleanup that followed was harder than most people expected.
A hurricane cleanup is not one event. Water comes in during the storm, sits while the rain continues, and then goes down slowly as the river and the drains recede. That can leave a house wet for longer than the flood itself lasted, with the water still inside the walls after the surface looks dry. The work therefore starts with the water that is still in the house and continues with the water that has soaked into the structure behind it.
Suffolk Water Damage Restoration sends a local crew in response to storm calls, and the crew begins with safety and water removal, then moves into readings and drying. Storm calls come in at the same time from many streets, so a crew may not arrive as soon as you would like. A technician is still sent as soon as one is free, and the steps below explain what happens once they are on site.
Do not enter a storm-flooded house until a technician has checked the structure and the power. Do not run a generator inside, do not wade through water that may hide live wiring, and do not open a wall or ceiling that is sagging or stained. Do not turn on appliances or the furnace until they have been inspected. If there is a smell of gas, leave and call the gas utility from outside.
The first job is safety, not cleanup. A technician checks the entry, the stairs, the electrical service and any structure that was damaged by the storm. Where a home is unsafe, the crew says so and the work waits until the hazard is removed. Do not re-enter a flooded house on your own.
Pumps and wet vacuums remove the water in the order it can be reached, usually from the lowest rooms up. The crew records the water level on the walls and the time the water began to drop, because that information is useful later when the moisture readings are interpreted and when the insurer asks questions.
The water that has gone out of sight is the difficult part. The technician uses moisture meters on the framing, the subfloor, the baseboards and the bottom of the wall cavities, and records each reading against its location. This shows where the storm water went and what still needs drying.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are set in the rooms that read wet, and they stay there until the materials reach their target. The crew checks readings at each visit and adjusts the equipment where a room is not responding. A material is only called dry when its reading shows it, not because the surface feels dry.
Materials that cannot be dried, such as soaked insulation, the bottom course of drywall, or carpet pad that has taken water, are described and approved before they are removed. Each removal is photographed. The homeowner is told what is coming out and why, and the reconstruction work that follows is quoted separately after the structure tests dry.
Storm water is slow to leave a structure once it is inside the walls and floors. It soaks into materials and wicks upward, so the damage keeps developing after the surface dries. Mold can start in the cavities that stay damp, which is why the drying has to continue until the readings confirm it.
Hurricane rain often falls for many hours, and the water in the ground stays high for days after the rain ends. That keeps the subfloor, the crawl space and the lower walls wet, and it slows the rate at which a home can release moisture to the air. A house can look dry in a week and still hold water in its framing.
The safe approach is to measure rather than assume. A crew that keeps taking readings can show when a room has truly dried, and a homeowner can see the same numbers. This matters most in the cavities behind walls and under floors, where the surface never shows what is happening.
The 2016 floods in Suffolk included homes on Gates Road with water more than six feet deep, and a creek downtown that crossed a road and swept a car away. The storm showed that water could move through the city from several directions at once.
The Hampton Roads area felt more impact from Matthew than the forecast had indicated. Storm damage in the region was not limited to wind, and water was a large part of the cleanup that followed.
For a cleanup company, the lesson is that the forecast can under-count the water. A plan built around a rainfall number alone may miss the ground that is already saturated, the drain that is backing up or the creek that has come out of its banks. Readings in each room are the more reliable guide.
No. Opening walls without measuring can spread contamination, remove material that could have dried in place, and leave the cavity exposed to new moisture. A technician decides where to open and what to take out, and photographs the cavity before anything is cut.
Homeowners often want to start tearing out wet drywall at once, because it feels like progress. A cut in the wrong place can release dust and debris into rooms that were otherwise clean, and it can expose insulation to air that is still humid, which encourages growth.
If you have already opened a wall, leave the opening as it is, photograph it, and tell the technician when they arrive. Keep the material that came out in a labeled place, because the crew may want to see it when the job is reviewed with your insurer.
A material is dry when its moisture reading falls to a target level set by the technician for that material and that room, and it stays there on repeated checks. Surface feel, a fan running and a clear smell are not reliable signs of dryness on their own.
The target is set by comparing a wet area with a dry area of the same material, so the crew knows what a dry reading looks like in the building. Wood, drywall, plaster and concrete each behave differently, and the target reflects that. Readings are written down with a date and location.
Drying usually continues until several consecutive readings hold at the target, and then the equipment is removed. The technician should be able to show you the log, including the first reading and the last one, so you can see the change for yourself.
Keep every photograph, every moisture log, every receipt and every written scope. The insurer will ask what was damaged, when, and what was done about it, and clear records make the claim easier to settle. The Virginia Bureau of Insurance handles homeowner complaints if a claim stalls.
Photograph the damage before anything is moved, and again after each stage of the work. Keep a simple diary of what you saw and when, including the time the water came in, the time it started to drop and the time the crew arrived. These notes are often more useful than the technical report alone.
If a claim is slow or denied, try to resolve the problem with the company or agent first. If that fails, the Virginia Bureau of Insurance, part of the State Corporation Commission, accepts homeowner complaints and can ask the company for its position. Whether a given loss is covered depends on your own policy.
Storm rain that enters through damaged shingles, flashing or siding often shows up first on a ceiling or upper wall, then runs down inside the wall. The water may not have reached the floor at all, yet the insulation and the top plates can be saturated. The crew reads the whole wall height, not only the stain.
When river or street water rises under a house, it can enter through the crawl space, the slab edge or a floor drain. The water can then wick up through the subfloor and into the wall base. The technician measures under the floor as well as above it, because the wet area may be hidden.
Storm water that comes in through a garage, a back door or a sliding door often runs across a large area of flooring before it is stopped. The job covers the whole path, including the threshold, the wall at the door and the room beyond. Garages with a connected living space are checked as a single area.
Storms that knock out power can leave a home without the heat or ventilation that normally helps it dry. The crew sets its own equipment to run without the house's systems, and it explains what the homeowner can and cannot run while the drying continues. The electrical safety check comes first in every case.
Suffolk is one of several Hampton Roads communities where a storm can push water in from more than one direction at once: from the Nansemond River, from creeks running into it, and from drains that cannot keep up with the rain. Matthew showed that a house can take water from the street, from the ground under it and from the roof in the same week.
The homes that were flooded on Gates Road in 2016 are an example of how far the water can go in a single storm. A depth of more than six feet puts water into the upper part of many wall cavities, and the crew has to check that height, not just the floor. A cleanup that stops at the baseboard leaves the cavities above it damp.
The Virginia Emergency Management guidance on inland hurricane flooding notes that many of the roughly 2,000 homes flooded statewide in Matthew were outside the mapped floodplain. That is a statewide finding, not a Suffolk count, but it means a storm flood in this city is not always a flood the map predicted. Every storm call gets the same readings, whatever the map says.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Water extraction and drying for Suffolk homes flooded by the Nansemond River or by heavy rain over the streets.
Water extraction and drying for Suffolk homes that flooded even though the flood map did not show them at risk.
Attic and ceiling drying after storm rain comes through damaged shingles, flashing or roof edges in a Suffolk home.
Water extraction, moisture mapping and drying for Suffolk homes hit by a storm that brought more water than forecast.
The Nansemond River runs through Suffolk, and when it rises during a storm it can flood low ground and reach homes.
Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 flooded homes across Virginia, and many of the roughly 2,000 homes flooded statewide were outside the mapped floodplain, according to Virginia Emergency Management.
A Virginia homeowner whose water damage claim has stalled or been denied should first try to resolve it with the insurer or the agent.
The records an insurer usually asks for after water damage are dated photographs of the damage, moisture readings and the drying log, receipts for emergency work, a written scope and an inventory of damaged items.
Call as soon as the water is out of the way of your safety. Storm calls come in from many streets at once, so a crew may not arrive as soon as you would like, but the sooner the call is placed the sooner your place can be put in line. Phones are answered 24 hours a day.
Not safely, and the crew will not enter a house while conditions are dangerous. Stay inside, away from windows, until the storm has passed and the area is safe. Call the line once it is safe to do so, and the crew is sent as soon as one is free.
A musty smell usually means moisture is still present in materials that have not dried, often in the wall cavities, the subfloor or the insulation. It can also mean growth has started. Measuring the materials is the way to find out where the moisture is and whether it is still rising.
Household fans can help with airflow once the water is out, but they do not replace measured drying. Commercial equipment is sized to the room and the materials. Ask the technician before you run any equipment, and do not run extension cords across wet floors.
No item is discarded without your say. The technician will tell you which items can be dried and which are better photographed and removed. Keep anything you want to save out of the wet area until you have discussed it with the crew, and keep a list of everything you decide to discard.
That depends on the policy. Many homeowner policies generally cover wind damage to the roof and rain entering through a storm-created opening, but flood water from rising rivers and streets is often excluded from standard policies. Read your policy and ask your insurer directly. The coverage decision is made by the insurer.