Flood Cleanup in Los Angeles, CA
The storm drain at the end of your street could not keep up. By midnight, brown water was coming under the front door and across the living room floor. This site connects you by phone with an independent local provider who does flood cleanup in Los Angeles County.
What the crew does first
Outside water is treated as Category 3 water. It has been through streets, yards, and storm drains, and it may carry sewage, fuel, and whatever the hillside above you let go of. The crew works in protective gear and sets up containment between the wet rooms and the dry ones.
They pump out the standing water, shovel out mud and silt, and remove carpet, pad, and drywall up to a line above where the water reached. Then hard surfaces are cleaned and disinfected. Air movers and dehumidifiers run until a moisture meter says the framing and slab are dry.
What to do in the next hour
Do not walk into water that has reached outlets or the electrical panel. If the panel is dry and you can reach it safely, shut off power to the flooded rooms. Do not run the furnace or the air conditioner. The ducts may be wet.
Photograph every room, the water line on the wall, and the outside of the house before you touch anything. Keep receipts for anything you buy. Move what you can lift to a dry room or out to the driveway. Then make the call.
What is usually saved and what is not
Anything porous that sat in floodwater is usually removed. That means carpet and pad, laminate, particleboard cabinets, upholstered furniture, mattresses, and drywall and insulation below the water line. Books and paper are rarely worth the effort.
Concrete, tile, metal, and solid wood can be cleaned and disinfected. Hardwood floors are a case-by-case call. Ask the crew to photograph removed items before they leave the house and to give you a written list. If a sewer line backed up with the storm, that part is sewage cleanup. Once the contaminated material is out, structural drying finishes the job.
Los Angeles County notes
LA floods in winter. Atmospheric-river storms from December through March drop most of the year's rain in a few days. In early February 2024, one storm dropped more than eight inches of rain on downtown Los Angeles over three days and set off hundreds of mud and debris flows in hillside neighborhoods.
Two patterns repeat. Hillside homes in the Santa Monica Mountains, the Baldwin Hills, and the foothills below recent burn scars take mud and runoff from above. Flat neighborhoods along the Los Angeles River, the Ballona Creek channel, the Dominguez Channel, and low streets in the San Fernando Valley take standing water when storm drains back up. LA County Public Works maintains the flood control channels and distributes sandbags during storms.
Standard homeowner policies generally do not cover water that came from outside. Flood coverage is a separate policy. Mud and debris flows may be handled differently again. Check what you have, and ask the crew to photograph the water line and log the readings for whichever adjuster you deal with. Rebuilding drywall and flooring in the City of Los Angeles may need an LADBS permit.
Calling about flood cleanup
Have the address ready. Be ready to say how deep the water got, whether it is still coming in, whether mud came in with it, and whether the power is on. Say whether the home is on a hillside or a flat street, and whether you have been told to leave. Call (000) 000-0000.
