Emergency
Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding Clearwater, FL
Surge and tidal water rise from the ground up and carry salt and silt with them. Anything porous they soaked is treated as contaminated. Outside water that rose into the building is treated as contaminated, and porous material it reached is removed. Salt left behind in materials keeps pulling water from the air, so it is cleaned out with the rest.
Switch off the air handler if it is dripping
Often needed alongside
- Emergency Water Extraction
Standing water removed before it soaks into slab, block and flooring - the first step after any failure, and the one humid air makes urgent.
- Wind-Driven Rain Intrusion
Wind pushes rain sideways through window frames, stucco and the base of the wall. The roof can hold and the house still take water.
- Sewer & Septic Backflow Cleanup
Heavy rain and a high water table can push sewage back through the lowest drain in the building. Clear or murky, it is handled as sewage.
Frequently asked questions
Why did a Clearwater condo closet flood when the air handler drain was clear?
More than a third of Clearwater's homes are in buildings of ten or more units. Where a building cools each unit with a water-source heat pump, the unit is joined to a shared water loop by two hoses in its closet. A hose that splits, or a fitting that lets go, keeps spilling loop water until the valves are shut, into the closet and through the ceiling below.
What wets the wall beneath a Clearwater balcony door after a July storm?
Rain sinks quickly into Clearwater's ground, about 65 feet above sea level, so a ground-floor wall that is wet after a storm usually traces to water from above. Where a balcony slab has settled or was poured pitched toward the building, rain runs back to the sliding door and the joint beneath it, and into the wall of the unit below. Water standing at the door shows it.
Can a bath fan make a closed Clearwater condo damper?
It can. About one Clearwater home in ten is held for seasonal use. A bath fan left running on a timer in a closed unit pushes air out, and the same amount comes back in through any gap it finds, around doors, outlets and pipes. That replacement air is the summer's humid air, and it settles in rooms where the cooling is set high and runs only now and then.
For the figures behind these answers, see Clearwater.