Cleanup and drying for homes and shops that take river floodwater, with the water categorized before any work starts.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
River floodwater is the most contaminated kind of water a building can take, because it carries mud, soil and whatever the river has picked up. Lafayette Water Damage Restoration responds to river flood damage in Lafayette and across Lafayette Parish, around the clock. Crews are sent as soon as one is free, and the water is categorized before removal begins.
The Vermilion River gauge at Surrey Street crested at 17.62 feet on 15 August 2016, against a minor flood stage of 10 feet. A river crest leaves a mess that is different from a burst pipe or a rain leak. Floodwater from a river is dirty, it is slow to leave a building, and it does not stop soaking into materials once it has stopped rising.
Minor flood stage is the gauge level set as the first point of concern on that river, and the number on a gauge tells you how far above that point the water got. It does not tell you the depth in any one building, which depends on the ground, the threshold and the structure. Use the gauge reading as background, and use the crew's measurements for your own property.
Call (833) 490-5225 at any hour if water from the river, a ditch or the street has reached your building. Tell the person who answers where the water came from, how deep it stood in each room, and whether it is still rising or has started to drop. A crew is sent as soon as one is free, and it does not carry a promised arrival time.
Do not enter a building with river water still standing in it until the power has been confirmed off to that area. Do not run a pump, a generator or a gas appliance indoors or in a closed garage, because the exhaust can build up in a room. Keep children and pets away from silt and standing water, and wash your hands and any exposed skin after contact. Do not try to remove wet insulation or drywall without a mask and gloves, because the dust and the spores in it can be a problem.
A few inches of river water that stood for a short time in one room is still treated as contaminated. The crew removes the wet floor covering and the lowest section of the wall, cleans what can be cleaned, and dries the structure. The shallower the water, the shorter the removal, but the category does not change.
Water that reached several rooms, or stood for days, takes the most time. The work usually spreads across the whole ground floor and into the wall cavities. The crew works room by room so the building can still be used by the people who live or work in the parts that are dry.
Shops and small commercial spaces that took river water often hold stock, shelving and equipment at floor level. The crew plans the removal around the stock, records what is lost and what is saved, and works in shifts so that the business can keep open in the parts that are dry. The commercial page covers that kind of job.
A building that was shut for a time after floodwater receded can develop a worse problem than the one the water caused. Warm, closed rooms hold moisture, and materials that were drying slowly may have started to grow mold. The crew checks for that when it opens the building and changes the drying plan to suit.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Yes. River floodwater has picked up soil, silt and whatever else was on the ground, and it stays in a building longer than clean water from a supply line. That is why it is treated as the most contaminated category, and why the removal work is planned differently.
Clean water from a pipe that has burst can be pumped out and dried in place in many cases. River water is different. Once it has soaked into carpet pad, drywall paper and the bottom of a wall, the material cannot be made clean enough to keep, so the removal is wider. The crew explains which materials come out and why before the work starts.
A rain leak that comes through a roof or a window is usually a smaller, cleaner loss. River water that comes in from outside brings its own problems: it leaves a silt line, it can carry contaminants into the cavities, and it can keep a building wet long after the river has dropped. The first step is always to find out which of these you are dealing with.
A flood stage reading describes the river at one point, not the water in your building. The crew measures the actual water in each room, the materials it reached and the height of the silt line, and those measurements decide the work.
A gauge at a river crossing records the level of the river on that day. A building's floor can sit above or below that level, and its doorways, ditches and drains change how river water gets in. Two houses on the same street can take very different amounts of water from the same crest, which is why the crew does not estimate the work from the gauge alone.
The silt line on a wall is one of the most useful records. It shows how high the water stood, and the crew checks it against the moisture readings in the drywall and the framing below it. Owners often photograph the silt line before anything is cleaned, and that photograph is worth keeping.
Drying usually takes longer than the removal, and it depends on how deep the water went and how much material it soaked. Readings are taken on each visit, and the drying is done when the readings in the floor, the wall and the framing return to normal.
Once the removal is finished, air movers and dehumidifiers run through the building. Framing and subfloor can take a long time to dry, especially in wet weather, when the air holds moisture and the equipment has less to work with. The crew does not guess at the time. It records the readings, sets the equipment, and comes back to read them again.
The owner can help by keeping doors and cabinets open, and by not closing a wet room with the heat or air conditioning set to a level that holds moisture in the air. The crew explains what helps on the first visit, and the readings show whether the drying is working.
Keep photographs of the silt line, each room and each wet item, a list of what was damaged, and any receipts for emergency work. Do not throw away items the crew has not yet looked at, because some of them can be cleaned and saved.
Take photographs of every room from the same spot before and after the water is removed, and include a ruler or a coin for scale on close shots of the silt line. Write down the time you found the water and the time it started to drop, if you can tell. Keep a list of the items you lost, with rough ages and where you bought them if you know.
Insurers ask for this record, and so do contractors who are asked to repair the building. A complete record makes the work easier to explain, and it protects the owner from decisions that were made without the evidence. The crew keeps its own record of each visit and gives you a copy.
River floodwater can carry bacteria and other contaminants, so people should avoid direct contact with it and wash thoroughly after handling anything it touched. Children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems need extra care around flooded materials.
Gloves, boots and a face covering are the minimum for anyone who must enter a room with river water still in it. Do not use the water for cooking, washing dishes or cleaning food surfaces, and do not drink it. Clothing that touched the water should be washed separately from other laundry.
If anyone develops a fever, a cough that will not clear, or a rash or skin wound that is slow to heal after contact with flood materials, a doctor should see them. Tell the doctor that the exposure was to floodwater. The crew can explain the work it does to reduce exposure, but it cannot diagnose anyone.
Before any work, the crew confirms that the power to the flooded area is off, and it does not enter water that has reached live circuits. A building that has been under river water may have damage to its wiring that cannot be seen, so the electrical check comes before the cleanup.
River floodwater is treated as the most contaminated category, so the crew uses protective gear and plans the removal with that in mind. The technician also asks whether the river water is still coming in, through a door or a crawl space, because removal cannot be finished while the source is still open.
Flood-soaked carpet, pad, insulation and the lowest sections of drywall are removed, because river water that has soaked into them cannot be cleaned to a safe standard. Furniture and stored goods are sorted into items that can be cleaned and items that cannot, and the owner decides with the crew which is which.
Hard surfaces and framing are cleaned, then dried with air movers and dehumidifiers until moisture readings return to normal. Each cavity is checked, because a wall that looks clean on the outside can still hold water behind the finish.
Photographs, moisture readings and a written list of what was removed are kept for each visit. These records explain the work to the owner and to any insurer, and they are the basis for deciding what is repaired and what is replaced.
The Surrey Street gauge on the Vermilion River is the reading used for the 2016 crest, and it is the one to look at when a river flood is reported in Lafayette. The number tells you how far the river rose above its minor flood stage. It does not tell you what happened inside any single building, and that is the question the crew answers.
River water tests the drying plan harder than a clean-water loss does, because the silt and the wet soil hold moisture in the wall and the subfloor for a long time. A crew working in Lafayette plans the removal and the drying together so the building is not closed up while the cavities are still wet.
Floodwater from the river and from the street can reach a building after the rain itself has stopped. Photographs and readings from the first days are the best way to show what came from where.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Cleanup and drying for rain floods across Lafayette and Lafayette Parish, planned around the rain event and the water it left.
Drying the framing, subfloor and wall cavities after water, with moisture readings taken on every visit until the building is dry.
Finding and drying mold that started inside wet walls, floors and cavities after a flood in Lafayette and Lafayette Parish.
Water extraction, drying and records for shops, offices and other commercial buildings that took flood water, planned around the business.
The Lafayette station of the US Climate Reference Network recorded 22.89 inches of rain over 11 and 12 August 2016, an all-time record two-day total for that station.
The Vermilion River gauge at Surrey Street crested at 17.62 feet on 15 August 2016, against a minor flood stage of 10 feet.
Look for a silt line on the walls, mud in the carpet or under the trim, and a strong smell of wet soil. A crew can read the moisture in the wall and the subfloor to confirm how far the water went, which is more reliable than what the surface shows.
No. The reading describes the river, and the damage depends on the water inside your building. The crew measures the water, the silt line and the readings in each layer before deciding what needs to come out.
Photograph the silt line first, then ask the crew before scrubbing. Some surfaces can be cleaned, and others have to be removed, and cleaning a surface that should come out can hide the damage behind it from the people who need to see it.
Sometimes, if the wet area is closed off and the dry rooms are kept separate. The crew explains what the household can keep using as the work goes on, and it does not promise a timeline.
The line is answered 24 hours a day. A crew is sent as soon as one is free, and Lafayette Water Damage Restoration does not promise an arrival time or a time of day for the visit.
You do, with the crew. The technician shows which materials are wet beyond cleaning and why, and nothing is removed without your approval, unless the power or the safety of the building requires it.