ou’ve always wanted a pool… just not in your basement. Thanks to those flash summer storms, though, many homeowners find themselves the unwilling recipients of a body of water inside their homes. This is problematic for numerous reasons: It’s expensive to fix, it takes time to “come back” after indoor flooding, it can lead to mold/mildew issues, and it can damage more than just the floor of the room that’s affected.
In other words, it’s really, really yucky.
It’s not unusual, either. Summer storms can dump significant amounts of water on land that might be incredibly dry already. The parched land can’t absorb the water quickly enough, and – voila! – an indoor lake suddenly appears. Another issue for many central Pennsylvania homeowners is antiquated drainage systems. A few years ago, many Camp Hill residents who had never before had flooding problems found themselves knee-deep in basement water due to the area’s older French drainage systems.
The most important thing to remember, though, is that you don’t have to suffer alone. If you have an emergency, take precautionary measures (e.g., turning off the electricity to the affected zones of your home, turning off the water to the affected zones of your home, using a Shop-Vac to remove as much water as you can, make sure pets cannot access the affected area, try to ventilate the area as much as possible.) Then, call your home insurance carrier for advice.
