Emergency sequence
The first 24 hours after water or storm damage
Nine steps in order, from the breaker panel to the moisture log, and what to sign, keep and leave alone while the house is still wet.
What to do now What drives the cost
Written by HyreRestore Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Right now:
Water near outlets or the panel: switch off at the breaker only from a dry floor. If you cannot, stay out and call the electric utility.
Gas smell: leave, then call the gas utility or 911 from outside.
Sewage: keep children, pets and anyone immunocompromised out.
Sagging ceiling: stay out from under it.
In the first 24 hours after water or storm damage, make the house safe, stop the water or cover the opening, and photograph everything before it moves. Call your insurer the same day. Then dry, but do not rebuild: the EPA advises drying wet materials within 24–48 hours to keep mold from growing.
What matters most on day one?
The costly first-day mistakes are steps done out of order: cleaning before photographing, signing before reading, rebuilding before the scope is agreed.
Five minutes of video before anything moves is the record your claim is judged on.
Stopping the damage spreading is expected of you. New drywall and flooring wait for an agreed scope.
Is it safe to be in the house?
Decide this before anything else. If any of these is in doubt, leave and make the rest of the calls from outside.
Standing water, wet outlets, wet cords or submerged appliances mean the circuit comes off at the breaker. Never wade to a panel, and never plug in a wet appliance to test it.
If a furnace, boiler or water heater was under water, do not relight it. Have the gas utility or a licensed technician check it first. If you smell gas, leave.
A ceiling that sags, bulges or drips is holding water it was not built to hold. Keep everyone out from under it.
Water from a sewer line, from beyond a toilet trap or from outside counts as contaminated. See sewage cleanup for what that changes.
In a house built before 1978, do not tear out painted material yourself: lead paint is possible. Older flooring and ceilings can hold asbestos, so test before removal.
Wet floors, and anything sharp hidden in the water.
Which valve stops the water?
Turn fixture valves clockwise. If you cannot tell where the water is coming from, close the main and work it out with the water off.
| Where the water is coming from | What to shut, and where to find it |
|---|---|
| Under a sink | The two small valves on the supply pipes at the back of the cabinet. |
| A toilet | The valve on the wall or floor behind the toilet. |
| A washing machine or dishwasher | The valves behind or beside it. Pull the machine out only with the power off. |
| A water heater | The cold inlet valve on top of the tank, plus the gas or electric supply to it. |
| A burst or hidden pipe | The main shut-off, where the supply pipe enters the house: a basement or crawlspace wall, an outside wall, the garage or a utility closet. |
| The main will not close | Call the water utility. There is a valve at the meter, which can need a meter key. |
Your water utility can tell you where your main shut-off is. That call is easier to make before a leak than during one.
What are the nine steps, in order?
Work down the list. The first three belong in the first hour.
Power, gas, structure and contaminated water, as set out above. A house can be dried. A decision to stay in an unsafe one cannot be undone.
Close the valve on the leaking fixture, or the main shut-off if you cannot tell. If the water is coming through the roof or a broken window, covering the opening is the same step: see emergency board-up and tarping.
Walk every room slowly on video, saying what you see and the time. Then wide stills, close-ups, water lines on walls, the source itself and the rooms that look fine. Back the files up off the phone.
Use the claims number on the policy, the same day. Reporting a loss is not the same as filing a claim: you can decide later whether it is worth it against your deductible. Should I file? sets out that trade-off.
Extract water, move dry contents out, lift rugs, and run dehumidifiers. Leave drywall, flooring and paint alone until the scope is agreed. The table below shows where the line falls.
Receipts, the failed part, samples of what comes out and every piece of paper. The list further down says what and why.
Cause decides coverage more than damage does. Flood from outside is a separate policy, and your deductible can differ by peril. What is covered goes through it peril by peril.
A limited work authorization for emergency drying is normal. An assignment of benefits hands your claim to the contractor. The questions below separate the two.
Surface water is the visible part. Whoever dries the house should take daily meter readings and give you the log. Drying is done when readings meet a goal set from dry material in the same house, not after a set number of days.
What counts as mitigation, and what waits?
Mitigation stops the loss spreading. Repair puts the house back. Only the first belongs in the first 24 hours.
| Do now (mitigation) | Wait (repair) |
|---|---|
| Extract standing water | Replacing drywall |
| Move undamaged contents to a dry room | New flooring |
| Lift rugs; put foil or blocks under furniture legs | Repainting |
| Run dehumidifiers and air movers | Cabinets and trim |
| Tarp or board an opening in the roof or wall | Permanent roof repairs |
| Remove ruined carpet pad, after photographing it | Rebuilding anything |
Open windows only when the air outside is drier than the air inside. On a humid day it makes the house wetter. Structural drying explains how drying is measured.
Which signs mean the house is still wet?
Any of these in the days after the loss means water is still inside a wall, floor or ceiling. Tell whoever is drying the house, and ask for the readings.
In a room that looks dry.
Boards that cup, buckle, lift or feel soft underfoot.
Or nail heads and drywall joints starting to show.
A gap opening between the trim and the wall.
On the ceiling, or new spots in the room below.
On the inside of windows that did not fog before.
The drying time guide explains what decides how long equipment runs. The standard a drying company should work to is ANSI/IICRC S500, Standard for Professional Water Damage Restoration.
What should you ask your insurer on the first call?
Have the policy number, the address, when it happened and what caused it. Then ask these four, and write down who answered and when.
| Question | How the claim treats it |
|---|---|
| What is my deductible for this peril? | Wind and hail deductibles can differ from the all-other-perils one, and can be a percentage of the dwelling limit. The deductible calculator runs your numbers. |
| Actual cash value or replacement cost? | ACV pays a depreciated amount. RCV pays the held-back depreciation once the work is done. See ACV vs RCV. |
| Does my policy pay living expenses? | If the house cannot be lived in, your policy may include additional living expenses (loss of use). Ask before you book a hotel. |
| Can I start emergency mitigation now? | Your policy can require you to protect the property from further damage. Ask what they need from you to document it. |
Coverage is decided by your own policy and the peril, not by what is typical. Read the declarations page, and where the answer matters, put the question to your insurer in writing.
Report today. Decide about filing later.
Telling your insurer about a loss and filing a claim are two different acts. Report it the same day, get a written scope, then weigh the claim against your deductible and your claims history.
What should you check before signing anything today?
A work authorization for drying should name the work, the equipment, the rate basis and a stopping point.
An assignment of benefits transfers your right to be paid under the policy. Read assignment of benefits before signing one.
Do not sign a blank scope, or one that says “any and all” where the work should be listed.
That is a warning sign, not a favor. See avoiding restoration scams.
Emergency drying can start on a limited written authorization. Nothing about a wet house requires a full rebuild contract at the door.
What should you keep?
For fans, wet vacuums, tarps, a hotel, meals out if you cannot cook. Keep them even if you are not sure they are claimable.
The split pipe, the burst hose, the failed valve. It is the evidence of cause. Ask the plumber to leave it for you.
A piece of carpet, a cabinet door, a length of baseboard, so the grade can be matched later.
Photograph the model plates on appliances before they are moved or scrapped.
Date, time, what you did, who you spoke to and what they said. A note on your phone is enough.
Start it while the damage is in front of you. The contents inventory shows what to record per item.
Where does the first day go wrong?
Once the carpet is out and the fans are on, the condition at the moment of loss cannot be shown.
A house left wet for days works against you: the EPA’s window for drying is 24–48 hours.
The failed part and the ruined materials, gone before anyone photographed or listed them.
Work the adjuster never saw, priced by nobody, is where claims turn into arguments.
Questions
What should I do in the first hour after water damage?
Should I take photos before or after cleaning up?
Do I have to stop the damage getting worse before the adjuster comes?
Should I throw away wet carpet and furniture?
Is it safe to stay in the house after water damage?
Do I have to use the restoration company my insurer suggests?
How fast can mold start after water damage?
Written and audited by
HyreRestore Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a restoration company and not an insurance adjuster.
We read the federal agency guidance, the state insurance statute or the industry standard ourselves, and we publish the rule with the document it came from and the date we read it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. The counts below are taken from the pages on this site.
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How this desk works
- Primary sources only. A mold rule comes from the EPA, a flood rule from FEMA and the NFIP, a claim rule from the state insurance statute. We do not cite an article that cites a source.
- Every figure carries its retrieval date. Guidance is revised and statutes are amended. A number without the date it was read cannot be checked.
- Paywalled standards are named, not quoted. IICRC S500 and S520 define the categories and classes of water and mold work. We describe their public structure and say plainly when the controlling text sits behind a purchase.
- Safety before the claim. Electricity near water, sewage, smoke and mold come first on every page where they apply. We explain the work; we do not tell you to do it yourself.
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Information on this page is general and may vary by location, building code, zoning, the condition of your house and your own circumstances. It is not legal, insurance, medical or engineering advice.
HyreRestore is not a restoration contractor and not an insurance adjuster: we dry nothing, remediate nothing and rebuild nothing, and we do not supervise or warrant anyone's work.
This page explains the work so you can read a scope, judge the company that wrote it and follow your own claim.