Creek Flood: What to Do First at Home in Chico

What is the first thing to do when creek water is in the house?

The first thing is to keep everyone safe. Move people and pets to a dry room, keep clear of standing water near outlets and appliances, and do not wade through water to reach belongings.

Creek water can be deeper and faster than it looks, and it can hide debris, holes and objects under the surface. Stay on dry ground and let the water settle before you move about the house. A slip in moving water can cause an injury, so do not try to reach a drain or a door by walking through it.

Creek water also carries silt and unknown material. Keep children and pets out of it, wash exposed skin afterward and keep food and drink away from it. These steps cost nothing and prevent most of the immediate risk.

When should I turn off the power, and how?

Turn off electricity to wet areas only if you can reach the panel or breaker without standing in water. If the panel is in water or the area is unsafe, leave it and tell the crew or the utility that water is near electrical equipment.

Water and electricity are a dangerous combination. If the water is near an outlet, a fuse box or an appliance, do not touch anything in the water. The safest route is to stay dry and call for help rather than risk a shock.

If the panel is reachable from a dry spot, turn off the breakers that feed wet areas. Do not turn off power you cannot reach safely. Ask the crew on arrival to confirm the power is off before they work near any equipment.

Water that has left the room still matters. Damp carpet, wet insulation and silt in the wall base keep moisture moving for days, so the house is not safe to close up simply because the water is gone. Keep the rooms ventilated only as the crew advises, and keep the power to affected rooms off until the crew confirms it is safe to restore.

What do I move, and what do I leave?

Move dry valuables, documents and small electronics to higher, dry rooms, and leave heavy furniture in place unless it is in the water. Do not move anything you have not photographed, and do not try to lift furniture from wet floors.

Documents, photographs, medicines, jewelry and small electronics are the items most worth saving. Move them to a dry room or a higher shelf, and keep a list of what you moved and where it went.

Heavy furniture, appliances and stored items in the water are best left in place until they are photographed and the crew has seen them. Moving them early can spread silt and make the insurer's review harder. If a piece must move for safety, photograph it first.

What should I photograph and record?

Photograph the water line on the walls, the silt, the damage to each room and each material, and the source if you can see it. Record the time you first noticed the water and the time of each call you made.

Photograph from a dry spot, starting with a wide view of each room and then moving closer to the water line, the silt and each damaged item. Take a photograph of the outside of the house and the yard as well, so the path of the water is on record.

Write down when you first saw the water, what you did about it and who you spoke with. That written sequence is the easiest record for an insurer or a crew to follow, and it is much better than memory weeks later.

What about the damaged materials and the insurer?

Keep damaged materials until your insurer has seen them, and do not discard them early. Tell your insurer as soon as you can, and ask the crew to explain its scope in writing before it starts.

The insurer will often want to see the damage before materials are removed. Keep a sample of flooring, a piece of drywall or a carpet section if it is safe, and keep the rest until the insurer has inspected them.

Contact your insurer as soon as the water is under control. The policy and the insurer decide what is covered, and the coverage can depend on the cause of the water. Ask the insurer what it needs from you, and keep copies of every letter.

When do I call a restoration crew, and what happens next?

Call a restoration crew as soon as the water is seen, because standing water keeps soaking the structure. The crew extracts the water, reads the walls and floors, opens what must be opened and dries the structure to a set standard.

Calls are answered 24/7 at (833) 490-5225, and a crew is sent as fast as one is available. No arrival time is promised for any call, so it helps to have the address, the water source and the state of the power ready when you phone.

On arrival the crew explains what it will do, and the scope is approved before work starts. The drying runs until the readings reach the dry target, and the homeowner receives the log at the end of the job.

What should I avoid in the first days after a creek flood?

Avoid using household fans and vacuums on wet floors, avoid painting or cleaning walls before the readings are taken, and avoid running a generator indoors. Do not disturb silt before it has been photographed.

A household fan can spread moisture and silt into dry rooms. A household vacuum can be damaged and can spread fine particles. Leave both aside until the crew has advised on the room.

Do not paint or wash walls until the crew has taken its readings and recorded the water line. Cleaning too early removes the evidence the insurer and the crew both need, and it can hide the true wet area.

What about the flood-control system and the Chico story?

The Five-Mile Basin takes peak flows off Big Chico Creek around central Chico, and the City of Chico General Plan update covers the same system. Those facts explain the setting, but they do not tell a homeowner which lot will take water.

The Five-Mile Basin was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s, and it sends peak flows toward Lindo Channel. Sediment builds up in the basin during high water, and a 2021 state notice limited the County's periodic removal of deposits. Those facts are useful background.

The City of Chico's General Plan update, in its draft environmental impact report under section 4.9, covers the same drainage system. A homeowner who wants the planning detail can read that section. The crew's job is the house in front of it, and it reads the water on your property.

What should I tell the call-taker so the crew comes prepared?

Give the address, the ZIP code, the source of the water, whether it is still coming in and whether it has reached power or appliances. Those facts tell the crew which equipment to bring and what to check first.

The call-taker will ask a few short questions before a crew is sent. Answer them plainly, and say so if you do not know an answer. A caller who says the water is still rising and is near the panel gives the crew the information it needs to bring the right safety steps.

If the house is hard to find, give the cross street and a short description of the approach. Calls are answered 24/7 at (833) 490-5225, and a crew is sent as fast as one is available. No arrival time is promised, but a complete first call lets the crew start its planning on the road.

Keep the call record too. Note the time of each call, the name of the person who answered and what you were told. If a crew is delayed or changes its plan, write that down as well, since the record of the response is part of the record of the loss.