January 19th, 2011 by DiQld

It is terrible about the Floods here in Queensland. 75% of Qld is affected.

I was very lucky in that I dont like living in low lying areas and so I live on the hill in a complex (my little village) on a hill. Unfortunately some of the homes in my village (the ones not on the hill) were flood affected. So the village occupants high on the hill helped those that were flood affected to clean up.

Most of us offered our garages, beds, power, food, man power, or shoulders to our neighbors, Unfortunately their were a few of my fellow villagers that dissapointed… When asked if we could use her power for a gerni she replied with who is going to pay for the power!  (Hmmm bad karma coming her way!) a few watched us clean up, a  guy went about putting a light up in his garage (with the panel door open) as if nothing out of the norm was happening… it felt as though he was rubbing salt in!   

What I have learnt about floods –

In General –

Buy real furniture – Wood, Glass Metal and Stone. these will survive and clean up nicely, everything else will be ruined!  

Dont store precious things like photos and memories in hard forgotten areas like under the stairs! Have them ready to go within five minutes. Better still scan them in save them to disk and have them stored with your passport and important papers so you can grab them on the way out!

Before the Flood hits –

Keep your phone and camera on charge til you lose power.

If you even think you could flood move everything early!!!!!!  and if you are short of time move those things that you want to keep first – usually the most precious or expensive to replace!

Have access to a portable radio, torch and candles and always have batteries available to power these things.

If you think you make lose power then grab a bag of ice and put it in your vege crisper and turn your fridge down to make it cooler… take your drinks out of the fridge to minimise opening it and the same with the freezer.

Take pictures of everything in situ and open cupboards and take more pics of the things you own.

Dont bother filling up your car, you will not be driving that far unless you have to move your belongings out of the area.

Dont bother panic buying water – as most areas have water towers so supply will not be contaminated!

Walk around your area to see where the water will come from, talk to other people checking out the area too, you will learn more about your area and possibly about earlier floods…  

If you are flood affected –  

Before you leave and before the water gets to your home, turn off the Water, Electricity, Gas.  

Take pictures of the water levels at your home or business (if you can) and of all things that have been wet or damaged before you move anything. Take pictures of your kitchen layout and benches and try to get accurate color shots…  Save small peices of carpet, underlay and (Dry) painted plaster (so they can color match the paint) Take pictures of ANYTHING you throw out. If you are too upset ask someone to do this for you.

The flood water will either fill everything or make it float – walls, cupboards, cavities under kitchen cupboards, Fridges, dishwashers, ovens etc.  

Clean out the mud/silt before it drys!  so as soon as the water receeds use a high pressure water cleaner and get the mud/silt out. It dries like concrete and stains everything. It fills the wall cavities and kitchen kick boards.

Contact your insurance company as soon as you can, although you may not have Flood insurance, They may at least be able to give you some advice as to what are your best options and how to proceed.

Contact people like Electricians (your home will need to be checked before the power goes on), Plumbers, Plasterers, Cabinet Makers, Carpenters, because they will be in high demand after the flood so the earlier you get in the earlier you can get back to your home.    

Wooden doors will swell so you have to make the decision as to whether you want the doors open or shut!  Once they have swelled there is no changing your mind except breaking them! Lock your screen doors and leave your doors open if you can. The water will have an escape!

Finally, dont go driving into flooded neighborhoods for a look you can do that on sites like www.Nearmap.com They had Satelite pics up 2 days after the floods…    

I hope this will help someone in the future.