Louisiana flood water cleanup after rising water

A burst pipe sends clean water into a house from inside. A flood sends dirty water in from outside. Rising water from a bayou, a lake, a river or a flooded street passes over yards, roads, drains and sometimes overflowing sewers before it reaches your floor, and it carries what it collects. The EPA treats floodwater as potentially contaminated with sewage, bacteria and chemicals, and advises throwing away porous items that cannot be cleaned and dried ^[1].

That changes the order of work. With a clean leak, the goal is to extract water and dry materials in place. With floodwater, the first goal is to get contaminated, porous materials out of the house: carpet and pad, soaked drywall and insulation, upholstered furniture, mattresses and particleboard furniture and cabinets. Only after that, and after hard surfaces are cleaned and disinfected, does drying begin.

Restorers call this black water, or Category 3, under the ANSI/IICRC S500 standard ^[5]. It means technicians wear protective equipment, bag and remove materials rather than drying them, and treat every surface the water touched. Our guide to water damage categories explains the system in plain terms.

Louisiana has more experience with floods than almost anywhere in the country. Hurricane surge, heavy rain that outpaces drainage, rivers and bayous over their banks and backwater from the lake can all put water in a house, and each event leaves its own kind of mess, from a thin film of silt to a foot of mud.

Floodwater soaks into materials faster and deeper than most leaks, because it usually stands for hours or days. Drywall wicks water upward well above the flood line. Fiberglass and cellulose insulation in the walls holds it like a sponge. Particleboard cabinets and furniture swell and lose strength. And everything it touched now carries contamination that keeps growing in the heat.

Mold follows quickly. The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours wherever possible ^[4]. After a large flood, that window is often impossible: roads are closed, power is out and contractors are overwhelmed. The longer wet, contaminated material stays in a house, the more of the structure is affected, which is why removing it promptly matters even before drying equipment can run.

There is also a hidden risk in older homes. Drywall joint compound, plaster, flooring and paint from before the 1980s can contain asbestos or lead. Tearing out flood-damaged materials releases dust, so contractors working on older Louisiana homes should check before demolition ^{[6] [7]}.

The first visit after a flood is usually about assessment and documentation. The contractor walks the house and the outside, notes the water line, checks the crawlspace or slab, asks about your insurance and starts a photo and measurement record. They will tell you what has to be removed, what can be cleaned, and what order they will work in.

Expect to talk about contents. Floods damage furniture, appliances, clothing and keepsakes as well as the building. Some contractors handle moving and cleaning salvageable contents; others focus on the structure. Either way, make a list and photographs before anything is thrown out, because both flood and homeowners claims depend on it.

Ask for the scope in writing before work begins. It should list what will be removed, how surfaces will be cleaned and treated, how the house will be dried and how dryness will be confirmed. If you are dealing with a flood insurer and a homeowners insurer, ask the contractor to document the damage in a way each adjuster can follow.

Few states know floods like Louisiana. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, levee and floodwall failures left roughly 80 percent of New Orleans under water, some of it more than a dozen feet deep ^[2]. In August 2016, a nearly stationary storm dropped more than 20 inches of rain across several parishes, the Amite and Comite rivers reached record levels and more than 146,000 homes were damaged statewide ^[11]. In May 1995, ten to twenty inches of rain flooded much of Jefferson and Orleans parishes, including Metairie and Kenner ^[12].

Those events shape how houses are built and repaired today. Many homes in Slidell, New Orleans and Denham Springs and Walker were rebuilt higher, and building codes and floodplain rules push new construction above base flood elevation. Even so, heavy rain still overwhelms streets and drains in low-lying neighborhoods, and backwater from rivers and the lake still reaches houses that never flooded before.

For cleanup, that history means two things. Local contractors understand mud-out, flood cuts and the paperwork flood insurance requires. And after a big event, demand spikes across a whole region at once, so it pays to get on a contractor's schedule early and keep removing wet material while you wait.

Contents are often the most painful part of a flood. A practical approach is to sort into three piles. Hard, non-porous items such as glass, metal, ceramic dishes and hard plastics can usually be washed, disinfected and kept. Semi-porous items such as solid wood furniture may be saved if they are cleaned and dried quickly and have not swelled or split. Porous items soaked by floodwater, including mattresses, pillows, upholstered furniture, stuffed toys and particleboard furniture, are usually discarded ^[1].

Photographs, documents and keepsakes deserve special care. Rinse mud off photos gently with clean water and lay them flat to dry, or freeze wet papers in sealed bags until you can deal with them; freezing slows mold while you sort out the house. Ask the contractor whether they offer contents cleaning or can point you to someone who specializes in documents and photographs.

Before anything goes to the curb, photograph it and note the brand, model and approximate age where you can. Flood claims usually require an itemized list of damaged contents, and once a debris pile is collected, the evidence is gone. Keep a small sample of carpet and pad, too, if your adjuster has not seen the house yet; some insurers ask to see the material itself, not just pictures of it.

Floodwater often reaches parts of the heating and cooling system that homeowners do not think about. On raised homes, ducts commonly run through the crawlspace and fill with water and silt. On slab homes, an air handler or furnace in a garage or utility closet may sit right at floor level. Outdoor condenser units can be submerged in flooded yards.

Ducts that held floodwater are usually replaced rather than cleaned, especially flexible duct with fiberglass insulation. Equipment that was underwater needs to be inspected by a licensed HVAC contractor before it is switched on. Running a contaminated system spreads odor, moisture and debris through the whole house, so leave it off until it has been checked.

Once a house is cleaned and dried, the question becomes how to put it back. Many owners in flood-prone parts of Louisiana rebuild with materials that handle water better: tile or sealed concrete floors instead of carpet, water-resistant wallboard on the lowest part of walls, closed-cell insulation in some areas, and outlets set higher on the wall. These choices do not stop water coming in, but they make the next cleanup faster.

If a house was badly flooded, local floodplain rules may require it to be elevated or otherwise brought into compliance before it is rebuilt. Your parish or city permit office can tell you what applies. A licensed contractor should pull permits for structural, electrical and plumbing work; you can check a Louisiana contractor's license through the State Licensing Board for Contractors ^[14].