Rhode Island and Massachusetts set for record flooding – Jarvis on the way
The East Coast is bracing for worst flooding in the last fifty years as record rainfall hits many communities for the second time in the past two weeks. Areas of Cranston Rhode Island and Boston Massachusetts have been declared federal emergency zones following record rainfall that is likely to continue through the early hours of March 31st. The latest storm is expected to add another four to ten inches of rain in many areas of the New England area and has many rivers overflowing causing municipalities to create a state of emergency and call in resources from the National Guard.
Jarvis Property Restoration of Harrison Township, Michigan has dispatched work crews to assist with the cleanup and repair process. This marks the second time this month that Jarvis has dispatched work crews to the Massachusetts and Rhode Island areas to assist with flooding cleanup. Jarvis Property Restoration has extensive experience in assisting with flooding disasters and has experienced first responders that are on scene within hours of a national disaster all throughout the United States.
In the summer of 2008, Jarvis Property Restoration worked to clean and restore over thirty building in Cedar Rapids Iowa following major flooding caused by the Cedar River cresting and flooding the entire downtown region of the city. With numerous dispatch hubs across the United States Jarvis Property Restoration is quickly able to coordinate the necessary resources to assist with any size disaster.
Spring weather brings on a new threat – tornadoes
This year has already brought millions of dollars in property damages due to extreme weather conditions in the U.S. The major storms that flooded a good portion of the Northeastern part of the U.S. a few weeks back seem be only the beginning of what looks to be a year filled with severe weather and property disasters. This past weekend, a number of tornadoes touched down in multiple cities in North Carolina. The tornadoes have caused substantial property damage to commercial buildings and a mobile home park in Lexington, Greensboro and Charlotte areas. The tornadoes were part of a pattern of severe thunderstorms that covered a good portion of the Southeastern states on Sunday.
The record rainfall that arrived in cities such as Boston, Providence and Newark in early March quickly led to a number of communities being declared as flood emergency disaster zones. It now appears likely that a number of these cities could be in danger of a second round of flooding thanks to a new pattern of thunderstorms that are expected to cover the areas for the next forty eight hours. Property owners in the New England area struggled to get their flooded basements dried out and could quickly find themselves in the same predicament as a few weeks back. One of the glaring flaws in the construction of many properties in the New England area is that homes were often built without a sump pump to help remove and displace water that is below ground and can quickly cause a basement to take on flood waters. Sump pumps are often the only thing that can prevent flood damages to a property as they can effectively pump out the excess foundation water through a properties drainage system, allowing for the property to avoid excess water damages. Continued flooding in many of the homes in the region is likely to cause a larger problem for homeowners to deal with. Mold often will grow in as little as forty eight hours on the right surfaces and with multiple storms hitting the region, it will be extremely challenging for property owners to keep their basements dry, compounding the likely hood that mold will begin to grow.
With warmer weather comes a higher possibility of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms affecting property owners. Tornadoes are considered the most destructive of all weather dangers that can affect property owners. Most tornadoes originate in areas that are flat such as Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and can quickly cause millions of dollars worth of destruction with wind speeds that can top 250 miles per hour. Personal safety should be the primary goal of surviving a tornado.
Maintaining your sump pump will help keep your basement dry
If you have a sump pump in your basement that you rely on to remove water from your home during heavy rainfalls, melting snow or flooding from excess water in the soil, it is very important that you be sure it is in 100% working order at all times. Sump pump failures can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage with just two or three inches of water in a basement. Often times the failure of a sump pump is caused by a simple installation mistake and on many other occasions it is caused by a problem with the switch. Sometimes the switch will not turn on because the pump has moved inside the basin. The float that triggers the switch can become lodged against the side of the sump basin, causing it not to turn on. Other times debris gets in the way of the switch. Be sure to check your pump switch every month or so to sure that the float arm is able to move freely.
Some homeowners find out that their sump pump is vibrating quite a bit and not pumping water out as it should. Often times this is due to the fact that too small of a sump basin is being used. Many people mistakenly use a five gallon bucket as a basin but this is far too small. A good, residential sump pump should be at least 18 inches wide and 22 inches deep. Anything smaller and narrower than this will cause switch problems and too frequent pumping cycles.
It is always a good idea to have a sump pump backup system in place. Often times during a heavy thunderstorm, the electricity will go out, leaving no power to operate the pump and this is exactly the type of circumstance under which you will need the pump the most. A battery-operated sump pump would solve this problem as this type of pump is powered by a standard automotive battery and it is often equipped with an alarm to tell you when the battery is low or not fully charged. If you live in the city, you can get a backup pump that works on water pressure. This type of pump should be sufficient until the electricity is turned back on. The dollar or two’s worth of water you use during this time is much better than spending a few hundred to clean up extensive water damage in your basement.
Keep in mind that lower priced sump pumps are those with the most potential for trouble. Instead of buying a cheap pump, look for trusted names and for the pumps whose housings are made from iron or other heavy metals. The old saying ‘you get what you pay for’ is definitely true when it comes to sump pumps.
Fargo ND and Moorhead MN are preparing against flooding disaster
Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota are preparing for a major battle over the next few days to try and prevent their downtown cities from being washed away from rising waters of the Red River. The two communities sit very close to the Red River and have previously suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in property damages due to flood waters rising. The national media has been closely following the developing stories, with the weather channel hosting a live vide stream from both cities with visibility of the Red River and rising waters. For the past two weeks volunteers have been racing to build a wall of sandbags around the area to help steer the floodwaters back into the Red River.
The Red River has a history of causing major flooding for cities that are on the shores as the river winds from Canada in the north down through Minnesota and North Dakota. Teams of first responders from Jarvis National Disaster Response division our en-route heading to Fargo to be ready to provide emergency cleanup and repair services if necessary. Having worked extensively in Cedar Rapids during the Iowa flooding of 2008, Jarvis’s IICRC technicians have extensive experience in cleaning up following a flooding disaster from overflowing river waters. Jarvis first responders have been working in the Boston MA area for the entire week following the torrential rainstorm that left thousands of homeowners with significant water damage to their properties. Semi trucks full of equipment and teams were deployed on Monday to assist with the cleanup and repair process which could last for at least a month for the state which was declared in state of emergency earlier in the week.
Jarvis first responders en-route to damaged east coast cities
Teams of first responders from Jarvis disaster recovery division were deployed to the East coast early on Monday. Following a weekend of torrential rain, many communities in the Mid-Atlantic region were in a state of emergency as over seven inches of rainfall have arrived in the past forty eight hours. The dramatic rain fall has led to flash flooding and severe property damages for thousands of homeowners and businesses.
The dramatic storms that included wind gusts in excess of sixty miles per hour have left hundreds of thousands of property owners without power. Severe winds also were knocking down trees and power lines, further hindering recovery efforts. Communities as far south as Alexandria and north to Boston have experienced some of their worst flooding conditions in the past ten years.
New Jersey has been hit very hard by the severe storms with seven counties being declared disaster zones as of today. The flooding in Boston has been so bad that the port authority has been forced to displace untreated waters into the Boston harbor to ease pressure in their drainage system. Areas north to Maine were also significantly impacted by the storm damages, with documented rainfall in excess of eight inches in these communities.
Crews from Jarvis Property Restoration will be arriving to help communities rebuild and dry out as quickly as possible. The division of first responders will be on scene with specialized extraction equipment to quickly remove excess water from properties as well as specialized drying equipment to begin drying our properties that suffered flooding damages. Repairing properties from water damage is extremely important to prevent rotting and the spreading of mold. Jarvis first responders have extensive experience working in FEMA declared emergency zones, having worked extensively in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Atlanta, Georgia over the last two years following major flooding disasters in these communities. To arrange for a first responder to assist with the dry out and rebuilding of your property, you can call 1-866-452-7847 to schedule an appointment.
