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4 Repairing Your Flooded Home This book gives step-by-step advice you can use to clean up, rebuild, and get help after a flood. Before you start, read the safety precautions at the top of this doc- ument and review the nine steps that are summarized on the con- tents pages. Your home and its contents may look beyond hope, but many of your belongings can be restored. If you do things right, your flooded home can be cleaned up, dried out, rebuilt, and reoccu- pied sooner than you think. While you are doing the job ahead, you should remember these three important points: 1. Play it safe. The dangers are not over when the water goes down. Read the safety precau- tions at the top of this docu- ment. Your home's foundation may have been weakened, the electrical system may have shorted out, and floodwaters may have left behind things that could make you sick. Many flooded items, such as wallboard and mattresses, will hold mud and contamination forever. When in doubt, throw it out. Don't risk injury or infection. 2. Ask for help. Many people can do a lot of the clean up and repairs discussed in this book. But if you have technical ques- tions or do not feel comfortable doing something, get profes- sional help. If there is a federal disaster declaration, a telephone "hotline" will often be publi- cized to provide information about public, private, and vol- untary agency programs to help you recover from the flood. Government disaster programs are there to help you, the tax- payer. You're paying for them; check them out. 3. Floodproof. It is very likely that your home will be flooded again someday. Floodproofing means using materials and prac- tices that will prevent or mini- mize flood damage in the future. Many floodproofing techniques are inexpensive or can be easily incorporated into your rebuilding program. You can save a lot of money by floodproofing as you repair and rebuild. See Step 8. You should also prepare for the next flood by buying flood insurance and writing a flood response plan. Following A Flood