We don’t get a lot of rain in Orange County, so when a storm rolls in, a lot of homes find out the hard way where the weak spots are. The National Weather Service is calling for showers likely after 10 PM Thursday and again on Friday, with the best chance of rain Friday night. A little more is possible early next week. If water finds its way into your house, the first hour of water damage from rain matters more than anything that comes after it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s what to do, what to leave alone, and when it’s time to pick up the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Water and electricity don’t mix. If water is near outlets, a power strip, or anything plugged in, stay out of that area. If you can reach your breaker panel without stepping through water, switch off power to the wet rooms. If you can’t get to it safely, leave it and call for help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watch the ceiling, too. A ceiling that’s sagging or bulging is holding water, and it can come down without much warning. Keep people and pets out of the room below it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rain usually gets in through a roof, a window, a sliding door track, or under an exterior door. You won’t be fixing a roof in the middle of a storm, but you can often slow things down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get furniture, electronics, rugs and paperwork off wet floors. Put foil or plastic under the legs of wood furniture so stain doesn’t bleed into the carpet. Lift drapes off the floor. Anything you move out of the water now is one less thing that needs to be dried, cleaned or replaced later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before you start throwing things out, take photos and video of the water damage from rain, and of where it came in. Get wide shots of each room and close-ups of damaged items. If you end up filing a claim, your insurance company will want to see what happened. We bill insurance directly, and good photos make that process a lot smoother for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EPA says<\/a> wet building materials and furnishings should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to help prevent mold growth. That’s not much time, and fans from the garage usually won’t get the inside of a wall dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When our IICRC-certified technicians arrive, they start with thermal imaging and moisture readings to find out where the water went, including the spots you can’t see. Truck-mounted water extraction pulls out standing water fast. Then we set up drying equipment and come back every day to check moisture until the structure is actually dry. If anything was damaged badly enough to come out, we handle the repairs and rebuilding, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Call us if water is coming through a ceiling, soaking carpet or flooring, getting into walls, or coming up from a drain. Call even if you’re not sure how bad it is. We offer a free assessment, so you’ll know what you’re dealing with before you decide anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We answer 24\/7, and a crew can be on site within 60 minutes. Call PuroClean of Northeast Orange County at (714) 643-2558<\/a>, or read more about our water damage restoration<\/a> service. For more on staying safe when heavy rain hits, see our flash flood facts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Usually, as long as the water isn’t near anything electrical and no ceiling is sagging. If either is true, stay out of that area and call for help.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n The EPA recommends drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to help prevent mold. The sooner drying starts, the better.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n It depends on your policy and how the water got in. Take photos, call your insurance company, and call us. We bill insurance directly.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Fans can help with surface water, but they usually don’t reach water inside walls, under flooring or in carpet pad. We use thermal imaging and moisture readings to find it.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Nothing. We offer a free assessment so you know what you’re dealing with before you decide.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n We answer 24\/7, and a crew can be on site within 60 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Gabriela Miszti, MBA, CFE, is co-owner and Vice President of PuroClean of Northeast Orange County, an IICRC Certified and EPA Lead-Safe Certified restoration firm in Anaheim. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner with a background in finance, investigations, compliance and corporate security, and she works with homeowners and insurance professionals across Anaheim, Orange, Yorba Linda and Villa Park on water, fire and mold damage. She also serves on the OCACFE<\/a> advisory board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We don’t get a lot of rain in Orange County, so when a storm rolls in, a lot of homes find out the hard way where the weak spots are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1249,"featured_media":20308,"template":"","blog-category":[12],"class_list":["post-20306","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog-category-water-restoration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/20306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1249"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/20306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20309,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/20306\/revisions\/20309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/northeast-orange-county-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-category?post=20306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When to call about water damage from rain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Is it safe to stay in my house if rain got in?<\/strong><\/summary>\n
How fast does mold grow after a leak?<\/strong><\/summary>\n
Will my insurance cover water damage from rain?<\/strong><\/summary>\n
Can I dry it out myself with fans?<\/strong><\/summary>\n
How much does an assessment cost?<\/strong><\/summary>\n
How quickly can you get here?<\/strong><\/summary>\n
About the Author<\/h2>\n\n\n\n