The ultimate threat, affecting both physical damage in your home and the quality of the water that you drink and shower with, is flooding. During the extreme weather of the past few years, much of the United States has been subject to the horrors of record flood waters. We turn on the news day after day to see the plight of different states and the people who live in them dealing with the fallout from these horrible natural disasters.
Remember that these are natural disasters and as such, there is little you can do to avoid them if you live in one of the areas that are likely to be affected. When a flood does threaten, the first propriety should be the family’s safety and then steps should be taken to limit the damage to the house and its contents.
Of course, before you even start to wonder about water quality during or after a flood, you’ll need to check with your insurance company to see that you’ve got adequate coverage to repair, replace and remediate all associated damages. It’s important to note that proper flood coverage usually requires a special amendment in the policy.
There are some proactive things that you can do if a flood is predicted in your area and one of these is shutting off the main water value if you plan to evacuate the house. Knowing what to do before the flood strikes is just as important as knowing what to do afterwards.
It should be no surprise to people that floods and other major storms can contaminate the drinking water supply as well as ruin furniture and appliances. If you find yourself stranded after a flood, remember that there may be potable water in the toilet tank or the hot water heater if neither has been submerged. If the flood water has not entered the freezer, you can get drinkable water from melting the ice cubes that have been left. A note of caution here. Always make sure it is safe before you turn on the electricity to boil water.
There are other ways to get around the problem of contaminated drinking water as well. Most drug or camping supply stores carry a variety of water purification tablets that can be used in just such an emergency, and if you have none of these tablets and no way to get them, a few drops of bleach works just as well.
It’s important here to let the bleach/water solution stand for at least thirty minutes before you proceed to use it and make sure to check with the local authorities to make sure that the bleach is suitable.
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