Ask Anna:The Midnight Disaster!

by Anna Glendenning | More from this Blogger

15 Jan 2007 08:19 PM

Last night my phone rang just before midnight. The caller I.D. said it was my little brother in California, of course I panicked for a moment as I picked up the phone to talk. My brother's and I are very close but generally don't speak in the middle of the night. So naturally I knew something was wrong.

The good thing was that no one was hurt, dead or dying. Once I knew everyone was safe, my brother started to explain what his problem was. Freezing temperatures are not the normal thing people in Southern California experience for long periods of time, but in the high desert and California the past week has brought record low temperatures for prolonged periods of time.

Most of the houses in Sunny Southern California are constructed on concrete slabs. Nice in many ways, but that means the plumbing, electrical and all the other things many of us find in the crawl space of our houses--is in the attic space of theirs. Apparently, just before he called me, they were awaken by the sound of a heavy box falling through their laundry room ceiling.

It didn't take too long for them to realize their feet were wet and they had about 6-inches of water sitting in their home. A water pipe in the attic had burst, and this isn't the kind of flooding Californians typically face. John really had no clue what to do or what to do first!

So this is what I told him:

• 1- Find the water shut off and turn the water off. That took a bit of time as they had no clue where it was. Eventually, they went out to the street and opened the main cover and turned the water off there.
• 2- While we were still on the phone, the sockets in his living room started to pop! So I told him to get into the house and flip his breakers off...just about then the phone line went dead.

While I was looking for his cell phone number, my husband got on the Internet and looked for an emergency fire, smoke and water damage company in the area. We called them and set them in place to get out to my brother's home. We were told it was the 108th call for that evening and they would get there as soon as possible.

• 3- John ended up calling me. All 6- kids were up, two of them soaked from the water leaking into their bedrooms. The crying and panic on the other end of the phone was unbearable. I told John to take his wife and children to a hotel that moment. He was a bit worried about the financial implications, I told him not to be because it would be covered under their homeowner insurance policy.
• 4- I told him I had a crew on the way to suck the water out and start heating the air. In California the water damage is nothing--it's the Mold you have to worry about the most.
• 5- My brother told me he didn't have the $1,000.00 deductible to pay the emergency crew. I let him know they probably wouldn't ask for it because the Insurance company would pay the claim and sometime along the way the $1,000.00 would be outstanding.

John had a difficult time trusting my advice about the hotel, and getting a crew out to his home. He was thinking he needed to have a claim number and that his insurance company would handle everything.

I let John know that his Insurance company would actually Thank him and be pleased he started Mitigating his losses so quickly. This morning he got in touch with his insurance company and told them he started "mitigating the loss" right away--they were very happy and thankful and estimate he is days ahead of some of the other claims being filed in the area.

In fact, this morning before noon, the burst pipe was replaced and carpet pulled out. The dry wall was wet four feet up the wall, it has been torn out. The insulation is out, and the ceiling has been removed and he is in the Drying stage.

He ran into his neighbor at the store. Apparently the same thing happened to them. Their home is soaking wet--still and his wife is waiting for a construction firm to come inspect the problem. They were told it may take a few days because so many people are in the same boat.

John called the same emergency team that got him going, and tried to help his neighbor out. It seems that the early birds all got the worm and there won't be any help for at least 24 to 48 hours for the neighbor.

In a major crisis such as this, it really is a fact that those who call first get help. When you have a homeowner insurance policy and a covered loss occurs there is NO Reason to delay taking action, sometimes there may not be help when you need it if you don't act promptly.

Photo credits for this blog entry: (no use restrictions for The Flood Damage Photo) The Picture of me and my brothers was taken by someone in the family.

Related Blogs:

• What to Do When Your Pipes Freeze--Mitigate Your Losses!
• Don't Let Your Pipes Freeze-Tips to Avoid Home Water Damage.
• Power Surge And Electrical Outages.

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disaster, frozen pipes, mitigate losses, water damage