Removing floodwater, drying floors and walls, and checking the flood zone and local rules for homes hit by rising water in Orlando.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Flood damage cleanup removes water that rose from outside, from a lake, a creek or the ground, then dries and documents the building. In Orlando, floods have come from lake overflow, creek flooding and tropical rain, so the first question is where the water came from. Phones are answered 24/7 across Orange County.
Floodwater is a different job from a pipe leak. It came from outside, it has moved across yards and roads, and it may carry silt, debris and waste. The water that reaches a house is also rarely the whole story, because it sits against the foundation and keeps seeping inward for hours after the surface has drained.
Orlando has seen the local version of this more than once. News reports from Hurricane Ian in September 2022 described September as the wettest month on record for the city, with Lake Ivanhoe spilling across North Orange and Magnolia avenues and Lake Eola running onto Robinson Street. Hurricane Milton brought a Flash Flood Warning covering Orlando, Deltona and Pine Hills in October 2024. Both storms showed how fast a low yard can become a flooded room.
A flood cleanup starts with the source and the classification. Whether the water came from a lake, a creek, a storm drain or the sky changes how it is handled, what has to be removed and how the building is documented for the claim and the local permit office.
Do not enter standing floodwater, and do not touch electrical equipment or appliances that have been under water. Keep children and pets out of the water, because it can carry sharp debris and waste. Do not run a generator inside or near the house. If you smell gas, leave the building and call the gas utility from outside. Call (833) 490-5225 for a technician once you are clear of the water.
Water that rises from a lake on a low street or a canal into the yards and houses beside it. It arrives slowly, stands for a long time and soaks the foundation, so the crew checks the slab edge and the lower walls as carefully as the floor.
Water from a creek, a drainage canal or a retention area that spills into the streets and into the nearest houses. It moves fast and can carry more debris than a lake, so the first job is clearing silt from the floor before drying can begin.
Heavy rain that overwhelms a lot's grading and enters through the garage, the doors and the lowest openings. It is often the most local kind of flood, and the entry point is usually findable. The storm water damage restoration page covers rain entering through damaged openings.
Call any hour and explain what is going on. You get a clear price before any work starts.
Not until the power and gas have been checked and the building has been looked at. Water can reach electrical equipment and gas appliances in ways that are not visible, and a flood can weaken the framing under a floor. Stay out until the building has been inspected or made safe.
Turn off the main breaker if the panel is dry and reachable without wading, and call the utility if you are unsure about gas. Do not run a generator inside the house or near a door, because carbon monoxide builds quickly in a closed space.
Floodwater around the foundation can also undermine the soil the slab sits on. Watch for new cracks, a floor that has dropped or a door that suddenly binds, and report them when you call.
Yes. Check the FEMA flood zone for the address with Orange County or the city floodplain office, because the zone decides what the building office may require before repairs. Flood maps change, so ask the office for the current designation rather than relying on an old map.
Within a floodplain, the local building official decides whether repair costs count as substantial damage, and that decision is what can require a building to be raised or brought up to a higher standard. The federal fifty percent rule is applied by that official, not by FEMA, and interior drywall alone is usually well below that threshold. Orange County's own ordinance is the document to read, and the office can confirm which rules apply to your address.
Unincorporated places such as Pine Hills and Azalea Park generally go through county permitting, and the cities handle their own. Ask which office holds the file before the repair plan is drawn up.
Because lake and canal water rises slowly and stays. Lakefront and low streets in the Winter Park chain, the Conway chain and the Lake Apopka shore can hold standing water for a long time, so the foundation, the crawl or garage slab and the lower walls need more attention than the rooms above.
The Orange County flood-mitigation project for Orlo Vista, described in news coverage, deepens ponds and adds a pipeline to Shingle Creek, which is a sign of how seriously the county takes water entering from outside. It is also a reminder that the water in a flood is often the water of a whole basin, not of one house.
Newer subdivisions with retention ponds, such as those in Ocoee and Hunters Creek, are designed to hold rain on site. They do not make a house immune in a storm of Ian's size, so the flood zone for the address is still the question to ask.
The insurer decides what is covered, and flood is often a separate coverage question from the standard policy. Ask the insurer in writing which part of the loss is covered and whether a separate flood policy applies, and keep the record the crew produces.
Photographs of the high-water line, the removed materials and the daily moisture readings are what an adjuster asks to see first. Keep copies of everything you are given. The Florida Department of Financial Services runs a consumer helpline for property claims, and the insurance claims guide explains the steps.
Ask the crew to note the flood water's depth in each room. That single measurement is often the most useful detail in the file when the claim is being assessed.
Some of it. Floodwater carries silt and contamination, so porous materials that it soaked are usually removed, while solid wood and sealed hard surfaces can sometimes be cleaned and dried. The moisture readings and the contamination, not the look of the surface, make the call.
Drywall that has wicked water up from the floor is usually cut back to a clean line above the highest reading, and the cut is documented before the drying equipment is placed. Insulation that sat in water is removed. Carpet and pad are replaced.
Rebuilding after the structure is dry is a separate scope. The drywall and flooring repair page explains which parts of that work need a licensed contractor and which can be arranged separately.
A flooded building can have damaged wiring, gas appliances that are under water and debris on the floor. The crew checks the power and gas supply, and nobody goes into standing floodwater until the hazards are dealt with.
Pumps take out the standing water and the crew clears silt and debris from the floor, the corners and the base of the walls. Silt holds moisture and carries contamination, so it is removed rather than swept back into the room.
Floodwater is handled as contaminated water. Porous materials that it soaked into, such as carpet, pad, insulation, particleboard and the lowest drywall, are usually removed. Solid wood and sealed hard surfaces are cleaned and dried in place where the reading allows.
Moisture readings and a thermal camera show how far the water travelled into the walls and under the floors. Drying equipment is placed for the building and the readings are logged daily against a dry reference from an unaffected part of the structure.
Photographs of the high-water line, the removed materials and the readings are kept as the record. Where the building is in a mapped flood zone, the same record helps the local building office decide how much work counts as substantial damage.
Orlando floods come from several directions. Lake Ivanhoe and Lake Eola overflowed in Hurricane Ian, the Little Wekiva River flooded near Altamonte Springs, and Shingle Creek and the St. Johns River also rose, according to news reports. The same storm can therefore leave a flood on the lakeshore of one neighborhood and a rain-filled garage a few miles away.
Orlo Vista is the local example of water entering from outside. News coverage says it flooded in Hurricane Irma in 2017 and again in Hurricane Ian in 2022, and Orange County is funding a mitigation project there. Drying priorities in that neighborhood start with the foundation and the lower walls, because the water comes in from the yard and the street.
In the south and east of the metro, low ground and the drainage canals of the Econlockhatchee and Shingle Creek basins mean standing water after heavy rain is a recurring worry. The county's flood information decides any address-level question, so check the zone for Alafaya or Meadow Woods before assuming a house is outside the risk.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Stopping the source, removing the water, drying to a measured target and documenting it, for homes across Orlando and Orange County.
Pumping and vacuuming standing water off tile, slab and lower floors across Orlando and Orange County, after a shut-off and a safety check.
Drying the rooms that wind-driven rain reached through doors, windows, roof openings and garage gaps across Orlando and Orange County.
Assessing and removing mold that grew after a water loss in Orlando homes, with Florida's individual licensing explained.
Hurricane and flood water in Orlando can come from rain the ground cannot absorb, lakes that rise over their banks, creeks that spill onto streets, or wind-driven rain entering a damaged roof.
Water damage claims turn on how the water got in, whether the loss was sudden or gradual, and what the policy and its endorsements say.
As soon as it is safe to enter and the power and gas are dealt with. Floodwater keeps soaking into the walls and the subfloor while it stands, and the silt it leaves hardens as it dries, so removing the water early keeps the cleanup smaller.
That depends on the flood zone, the building's age and the repair cost measured against the building's value. Within a floodplain the local building official makes the call. Ask the office for the decision in writing before the rebuild is designed.
It can be. Silt holds moisture and whatever the water carried, so it is removed rather than swept out. Wear protective gloves and boots if you must go in, and keep children away from it until it has been cleared.
Ask your insurer. Flood is often treated as a separate coverage question from standard water damage, so the policy wording decides. Get the answer in writing, and ask what evidence the insurer needs to assess the loss.
Only if the power and gas are safe and the water is clean enough to handle with ordinary gear. Floodwater is usually not clean. A pump run in a flooded room is a hazard, so leave it to the crew unless the source and the electrical risk are clearly safe.
The high-water line on the walls, the silt on the floor, the furniture and the damaged items, and the outside of the building showing where the water stood. Take a few shots from each corner of each room. The crew will take its own readings, but your photographs show the water as it was.