Steps To Take After Your Retail Store Floods

6/6/2020 (Permalink)

If your retail business floods, you must act as quickly as possible to salvage what you can and minimize the ongoing destruction that will come from standing water and saturation. If this happens you may feel like there is so much to take care of you don’t know where to start. Here are some important first steps to take after your retail store floods.

• Safety first, of course. It’s important to move quickly, but it’s more important to protect yourself while you assess the damage. There are many dangers that you might encounter when returning to your flooded property, such as: 
• infectious and diarrheal diseases – floodwater can contain some really unhealthy stuff
• fuels, solvents and other industrial chemicals in floodwater
• drowning or being wounded by submerged objects are possible hazards in a flooded basement or storage area, as well as in moving or standing water
• electrical hazards – watch for downed power lines or underground electrical service exposed by erosion. Do not enter your flooded building if the electrical power is on or if you can see obvious structural damage
• Assess the damage. Walk the perimeter of the property first, taking pictures and/or shooting some video footage to document what you find.
•  Look for erosion that has left walls unstable or exposed utilities like underground electrical service or gas, sewer, or freshwater supply lines. 
• If electrical or gas lines are exposed, call an electrician or your power company. These are situations that are potentially deadly. Get professional help before entering the building.
• Remove all water and dry everything as quickly as possible. If your retail store has suffered significant flooding, professional help will probably be best, and you will want to choose a company that knows mold. A mold colony can become established in 24 hours after a flooding event, and that will be a disaster for your business, affecting your fixtures and product, and therefore your livelihood.

Our SERVPRO of Baldwin County team is here to help you if you suffer a flooding event. We are mold remediation experts, too!