The storm has passed. The street on Veterans is still a lake. The downstairs carpet in Old Metairie is wet, and you do not know yet if that water came over the sill, up through a drain, or out of a burst pipe in the wall.

Those three are different jobs and different claims. This page is the first 24 hours after the water is in the house. Plywood and gutters are the other article — how to protect a house before a hurricane. Do that before landfall. Do this after.

Call PuroClean Certified Restoration Specialist, 24/7: (504) 799-0400. Airline Drive, Metairie.

Name the water before you fight it

Flood / storm water from outside — over a sill, under a door, through a failed weather seal, standing in the street and then in the foyer. Often a flood policy, not the HO-3.

Clean supply water — a water heater, a washed-out fitting, a pipe that failed while you were evacuated. Often homeowners, if it was sudden.

Sewage / Category 3 — the downstairs bath backed up, it smells like a drain, or street water mixed with a sanitary line. That is sewage cleanup, not a fan-and-hope job. Do not shop-vac it.

If you are not sure, treat it as contaminated until someone who does this work says otherwise. Jefferson Parish sewer is not the Sewerage & Water Board. A whole block surcharging is the Parish. One gurgling toilet with a dry floor is still a plumber. Water already on the slab is restoration.

First 24 hours, in order

  1. Safety. Water at outlets, the panel, or a flooded heater closet: stay out. Kill power only from dry ground. Gas smell: leave.
  2. Stop making it worse. Do not flush if you think the sanitary line is in this. Do not run downstairs showers, the washer, or the dishwasher. Do not run the HVAC to “dry the house” if the return is in the wet zone. That pulls bad air through the ducts.
  3. Photograph before you move anything. Wide shots of the hallway, the water line on the baseboard, the door or drain that failed, the street if it is still flooded. Contents in place. One of the owners spent years on the adjusting side of claims. The file with timestamps and unmoved contents is the file that moves. That is not legal advice.
  4. People and pets off the wet floor. Bag the dog bed and the shoes by the door. Do not rinse them in a tub on the same line.
  5. Towel dam, do not mop through the house. Spreading flood water onto dry carpet doubles the pad you will lose. Restorers extract. A mop walks it.
  6. Call three numbers. Restoration now if it is inside: (504) 799-0400 or contact us. Your insurer — flood vs HO-3 vs sewage rider, and whether a named-storm deductible applies. Parish drainage/sewer if the whole street is in it; S&WB only in Orleans.
  7. Do not throw the house in a dumpster. Photograph first. Adjusters and restorers both hate a pile that got tossed before anyone saw it.

What “flood damage restoration” actually is

Water damage restoration here is not a dehumidifier in the living room overnight. It is extract, inventory moisture, dry to numbers, and pull what cannot be saved (pad, some baseboard, wet drywall). Reconstruction — cabinets, flooring, paint — starts after the structure is dry, not while it is still wet.

We handle indoor water, including sewage cleanup: extract, dry, disinfect, document. A plumber still owns your lateral. The Parish still owns the main. We do not interpret your policy.

What people here do that makes the loss worse

Pulling wet pad and drywall into the driveway before photos. Running every box fan you own on sewage or street water. Bleaching the baseboard and calling it done. Cutting a hole in the wall “to let it breathe” and then leaving for two days. All of that is how a Metairie hallway that could have been a dry-out becomes a rebuild.

If the water is still coming in — roof, sill, a line that did not shut off — stop the source if you can do it safely. Restoration does not replace a roof. It dries the house after the hole is covered. A roofer and a restorer are both normal on the same night.

Mold is the clock, not the storm name

This is September humidity on a Metairie slab, not a spring allergy post. Standing water gets a 24–48 hour window before you are talking mold. A box fan on wet pad is how a hallway becomes a tear-out. Bleach on a wet baseboard is not that process.

FAQs

Is this flood or a plumbing leak?

Look at the source. Street and sill vs a supply line vs a drain. Photograph all three possibilities. Coverage follows the source, not how wet the hallway feels.

Will homeowners pay?

HO-3 is built around sudden internal water. Rising water from outside is usually flood. Sewage is often a rider. Named-storm deductibles are another knob. Open the claim. Mitigate. Do not wait on a desk.

Can I dry it myself?

A wet rag on a tile foyer, if the water is clearly clean rain and has not gone into pad, is damage control. Carpet, pad, walls, and anything that smells like a drain are not DIY.

Do you come at night?

(504) 799-0400, 24/7. Peak storm nights are when everyone calls. Still call. Sitting until daylight is how Category 3 sits in a hallway.

What about Kenner or the Eastbank?

Say the city on the call. This article is Metairie after the water. Kenner and the other Jefferson Parish streets are dispatch from the same Airline Drive office.

Call

PuroClean Certified Restoration Specialist
2701 Airline Drive Suite K #141, Metairie, LA 70001
(504) 799-0400 — 24/7