Keene Resident Offers Tips on Flood Cleanup

Having gone through last fall's flood in Keene, I'd like to offer a few observations and suggestions that you folks might cover in additional stories about flooding:

-Many, many folks do not have flood insurance.

-Those who do have flood insurance may find that it does not cover damage to the the basement (which is like having car insurance that does not cover the front end of the car, the most likely thing damaged in a an accident).

-If people are looking into flood insurance for the future, make sure that they read the fine print and ask questions about exactly what is covered and what isn't.

-If you get flooded, take photos or film of the flood and damage.

-If you have an oil or propane leak, call the fire department immediately.
If there is danger of a fire, they usually pull the electrical meter, shutting off power to the house.

-The State of NH DES has special funding to help cover the costs of pumping out and cleaning up oil spilled. We we very, very thankful for this, as we lost nearly 250 gallons of oil into the cellar.

-If you have an oil spill in your basement, it's best to not pump out the basement before you have the oil pumped out. Oil floats on water and is far, far easier to clean up when on top of water vs. all over your concrete or dirt floor. Once the oil is pumped out, the clean-up company and fire department will put absorbent pads down to pick up the residue. If you have a dirt cellar, you want to prevent oil from seeping into the dirt, where it becomes a much more difficult and costly job.

-Dawn dish soap is the best for clean-up of oil residue on cellar walls.
Bleach helps to disinfect. The oil companies have absorbent powder for oil, which will also eliminate the odor.

-Basement electrical panels that are partially or fully flood will likely have to be replaced. Some types can be taken apart by an electrician and thoroughly cleaned.

-We learned the hard way, having not been flooded for 60 years or so.
Our oil tank in the cellar was simply sitting on concrete blocks placed on our dirt floor. When the flood filled the cellar with 5'
or more of water, the tank tipped and began leaking. We lost some 250 gallons of oil. In retrospect, we should have immediately turned off the value at the bottom of the tank, where the copper fuel line and filter are, as this may have prevented the leak.

-Since the flood, we have replaced the concrete blocks with a large concrete pad, to which the tank is now cabled. We also have some 2x4 bracing from the floor joists to the top of the tank. Between these two things, the tank should not tip should the cellar ever flood again.

-Propane tanks and oil tanks are often not secured in place very well, if at all. If there is any chance of flooding in your area, these should be securely bolted or, better yet, cabled in place.
These tanks can be very bouyant and sometimes anchor bolts on the feet alone can break free.

-When working to clean-up a flooded basement, make sure that anything that you plug in (drop-light, water pumps, tools, vaccumn, etc.) are plugged into outlets with GFI's....ground fault interrupters.
Otherwise you may get electrocuted.

-With our oil burner, we had to wait almost 3 weeks before the furnace repair guys could come. This turned out to be a blessing, as the extra time that it was sitting there allowed it to air dry. Thus the blower motor was OK. If we had tried to turn it on immediately after draining the water it would have overheated and more damage to the furnace would have occurred.

-We decided to move the electric hot water heater upstairs, to a closet, so that it never would be flooded again.

-While the flood waters receded quickly, the ground stayed saturated and thus the water table was very high. We could pump water out, but it came back in nearly as fast as we pumped it out. Thus we had to wait nearly 3 weeks until we could keep the cellar dry.

-In some cases, it's not wise to pump water out of a cellar while the surrounding ground is still saturated since the water pressure in the ground may cause damage to the cellar walls.