Emergency
Storm Surge & Tidal Flooding Orlando, 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 does the lake behind an Orlando home rise after a wet week?
Many of Orlando's drainage basins have no surface outlet. Their runoff collects in the lakes, with drainage wells sending overflow down into the aquifer, and about 90 percent of the city's stormwater ends up in a lake. A wet week therefore raises the lake, and the yard, seawall and lowest slab beside it are the first things the water reaches.
What should the owner of an old Lake Eola Heights house watch for in the rainy months?
Lake Eola Heights holds about 570 buildings, among them clapboard farmhouses from 1890 to 1911. Wood siding sheds rain only while its paint and caulk are sound; where they have worn, summer rain runs behind the boards into the wall framing, and the humid air keeps the cavity from giving it up. Soft wood or paint lifting near the bottom of a wall is the sign.
Why would a top-floor Orlando apartment get a ceiling leak with no rain?
Close to two in five Orlando homes are in buildings of ten or more units. Where an air handler sits in the space above a top-floor ceiling, its condensate drain carries water every hour the cooling runs. If that drain clogs, the pan overflows and the water comes straight down through the drywall. A stain near the air handler's access panel is usually the first sign.
Orlando's own page carries them beside the local figures.