Flood Damage Prevention Tips

6/22/2021 (Permalink)

Flood prevention can save you a lot of time and money.

After a heavy storm hits North St. Paul, MN, your property may have some damage due to flooding. While certified storm mitigation experts can help you clean up the mess, the best course of action is to prevent as many problems as possible to begin with. Here are some tips on storm preparation to help you avoid damage in the first place.

3 Tips on Storm Preparation

1. Barriers

There are certain areas of your building that are especially prone to flood damage:

• Windows
• External doorways
• Loading docks

Essentially, any space that can be opened is more vulnerable to water entry. Using sandbags or other barrier methods can stop the flow of water into your building. Even if it doesn’t completely block floodwaters, it can slow it down enough to prevent a lot of damage.

2. Landscaping

You can’t always prevent flooding. It is possible, however, to divert most of the water away from your building through creative landscaping strategies. Your landscape architect can show you good locations for trenches and can recommend ground cover that can slow water flow toward your building considerably.

3. Organization

Many items in commercial buildings get storm damage simply because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Water can destroy equipment, furniture and important files. Elevating particularly vulnerable items just a few inches off the floor can make a big difference. Digitizing your most important documents is also a way to safeguard them against the risk of floods. Cloud storage means that your business won’t lose information even if the hard copies are destroyed.

No matter how careful you are, you may still have some water damage in your building after a heavy storm. That doesn’t mean that you are completely powerless against flooding, though. Sandbags and trenches can prevent a lot of the water from getting in, and some tweaks in your organization can protect items from minor leaks that occur. Taking a few extra precautions can save you a lot of time and money after a flood.