How to prepare for a flood

Flooding is the most common disaster almost everywhere, and the one people are most confident does not apply to them. The confidence usually comes from a single fact — “we are not in the flood zone” — that answers a narrower question than the one being asked.

Flood maps describe river and coastal flooding. They do not describe the storm drain that cannot cope, the culvert that clogs, the new development uphill or the once-in-a-generation rainfall that lands on your street specifically.

Two floods, two different problems

	River or coastal flooding	Flash flooding
Warning time	Hours to days	Minutes to a couple of hours
What you can save	Belongings, vehicles, the house	Only yourselves
The right response	Move things up, then leave	Move up or out immediately
Where it happens	Floodplains, coasts	Anywhere, including dry washes and cities

Preparing for both the same way is the most common mistake. The slow one is a logistics problem; the fast one is a decision problem, and the decision has to already be made. The full comparison.

Before: the work that has to be dry

Find out what your actual risk is. Look at the official flood map, then ask the questions the map does not answer: has this street flooded before, what is uphill of you, where does the drainage go. How to check.

Buy flood insurance now, not later. It is a separate policy with a waiting period of roughly 30 days, which exists precisely so it cannot be bought when a forecast appears.

Know your elevation and your route. Whether your floor sits above or below the historic flood level changes every other decision, and the route out matters more than the house does.

Decide the order of what goes up. Documents and medication, electronics and drives, textiles, furniture. Writing it down beforehand is what prevents improvising with water in the yard.

Photograph the house room by room, with appliances and serial numbers visible. That is what supports the claim.

Protect the mechanical parts. Raise the water heater, electrical panel and HVAC where it is feasible; those are the repairs that turn a cleanup into a rebuild.

During

1. Move to higher ground before the route is cut, not when water reaches the door. Roads flood before houses do.
2. Take the irreplaceable first — documents, medication, drives — because they are light and cannot be bought again.
3. Shut off power and gas if you can reach the panel on a dry floor. If water is already there, leave it and call the utility.
4. Fill containers with drinking water. A flood contaminates the supply before it cuts it.
5. Never cross moving water on foot or in a vehicle, whatever the reason.
6. If water is entering the house, go up, not into a basement, and take the phone, a light and shoes. What to do when water gets in.

After: the return is its own hazard

• Wait for official clearance. Scoured foundations and undermined roads are invisible from outside.
• Assume the water is contaminated — sewage, fuel, chemicals. Gloves and boots, and children stay out of the cleanup.
• Switch nothing on until soaked wiring and appliances have been inspected.
• Photograph everything before throwing anything away.
• Dry it within days. Mould establishes fast, and it is what turns a wet house into an unlivable one.

The ZonaProtec monitor shows official flood watches and warnings in effect at a point you search, alongside the rest of the threats near you.