Flood preparation/planning
With flooding and concerns on the rise I'm creating a list for my work, please have a read and consider the items, there will be things on here you haven't considered and the majority of the items on the list have no or very little costs.
• Dry bags or backpacks that fold into a small space, leave one in each occupants closet or clothes drawers. It’s wise to have a bag of packed clothing ready in case you need to live out of your home and be able to work for a few days or a week without access to your home, but having 7 days’ worth of clothing tied up in a backpack isn’t really practical. If you only have a few minutes to get out of your house, you can stuff clothing into a large sack within a minute or two.
• Dry bag or a clean heavy plastic bag rolled up near or above your refrigerator. If you have don’t have access to your refrigerator and the power is out for a week, your milk and veggies might not smell so good by the time your allowed back in. Throw anything that would start to rot and stink in a bag and take it with you as well.
• Important paperwork, last year’s tax files, baby pictures, certificates, will/deeds etc. In your basement isn’t the best place to keep these if your house is flooded. In a secure location on an upper floor is wiser. Any other valuable heirlooms you may want to think about higher ground in your house to keep them when the rivers are high. Better yet, scan important documents and store duplicates securely on a thumbdrive or dropbox on the web.
• Does your sump pump work? You can check the float switch by lifting the float up, you should be able to hear the pump running. Check the piping leaves the house so water can’t recirculate back in.
• Do you have a backflow preventer (one way valve) on your septic line? Things can get brown and muddy in your house if the flood water back feeds city septic lines. It’s less fun to shovel out than you’d expect.
• Jewelery and valuables (toys/bikes/tools etc.), if you have them in a secure location, you won’t be worried about them going missing and they can stay where they are, till you have access to your home again. It’s easier to sleep at night without concern of looters.
• Where is your gas shut off and your electrical main shut off? What tools do you need to turn the gas off? Does your partner know where and how to take care of this? Do you know how to re-ignite a gas hot water tank or furnace? Are the electrical circuit breakers marked to disconnect basement circuits?
• Do you have a back-up generator/power? Can you secure/chain and lock it to a structure up high where it can’t easily get taken? Do you have enough fuel to run it for a couple days, and have fuel stored where it can’t float away or become an environmental hazard? You will want to run your septic pump (extension cord is important for this) your fridge and deep freeze if you’re not evacuated or after you have access but the power is still off, your generator should have capacity for these, or you may have to alternate. You may need to leave your home with it running and not be worried about fire hazards or it being under flood water.
• If you have room in your deep freeze, milk jugs full of clean water are handy for heat mass for keeping things frozen/cool longer.
• Do you have friends that live in a higher part of the city that you could stay with? Might be easier to have the “what if” conversation with them so they can be prepared for company for a week if needed.
• Try not to let your vehicle run lower than half a tank of gas. If travel routes are closed fuel stations will run out of fuel, and they can’t pump when the power is out.
• Does your child’s school daycare have flood evac planning in place? Do you have their and other important contact info somewhere you can find it if your phone is wet and you can’t access your home?
• It’s very wise to leave a sign on the door to let RCMP know that the house has been evacuated, gas and electricity have been turned off and a contact number, to prevent the chance of forced entry/damage.
• Do you need to put your pets in a kennel to transport them? How much work is it to get that kennel and pet loaded up?
• Are there items in your yard, vehicles camper or boats that can be damaged or taken by the river? Can this risk be remediated if at all?
A couple tips post evac:
• Contact your home insurance company , before you even know if you will have damage, the wait list can be long to get them in to see your home, and you will need to discard waste, old appliances, personal possessions and building materials to move on with your life.
• Make sure your home or any home you enter is safe before doing so, be aware of gas leaks, electrical shock hazard when in flooded basements and building structures that could be damaged and at risk of collapsing. Ask that others have done the same. Safe footwear for walking in basements, and communicating your location with family before you go anywhere.
• Be aware of the possibility of flood waters rising suddenly, what if a dam up stream bursts. Be extremely cautious of driving on flooded roadways, moving water can dig trenches where you wouldn’t expect it, like trying to find the edge of a cliff in the dark.
• Document and take pictures of everything damaged as it leaves. The little things add up, and it’s easy for the insurance agent to say no to your electronics that have been picked up by waste management already.
• Check out the Canadian Red Cross’s website for more info. If you need support, reach out.
These are many of the things my wife and I and our community of Bowness learned on a beautiful sunny day in 2013, we had a knock at the door and a police officer told us we had 5 minutes to evacuate our house. We weren’t able to sleep in our home for over a week, and we were some of the luckier ones.
If you have any helpful hunts please feel free to offer up, or share via email or through your workplace.
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feeding the occasional troll.
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