When Water Strikes: Hurricanes vs. Pipes

When Your Home Floods From A Hurricane, How Does That Differ From A Pipe Leak?

When disaster strikes, knowing the difference between types of water damage could save your family's health and your home. Chad Mallonee, owner of Hazard Clean Restoration, reveals the critical distinctions between hurricane flooding and standard pipe leaks that every homeowner needs to understand.

The source makes all the difference. While a pipe leak releases clean, Category One water into your home, hurricane flooding introduces Category Three water – laden with bacteria, viruses, pesticides, and environmental contaminants. This contaminated water quickly infiltrates building materials, creating potential health hazards throughout your home. Chad explains the shocking speed at which bacteria multiply – a single bacterium can reproduce into 16 million within eight hours and reach trillions within a day.

Visual inspection isn't enough when dealing with flood damage. Water that appears clean may harbor dangerous pathogens, which is why Hazard Clean Restoration employs professional testing to accurately assess contamination levels. The restoration approach for hurricane flooding involves extensive protocols before drying can even begin – including thorough assessment, material removal, specialized cleaning methods, and third-party verification that pathogenic threats have been eliminated. These crucial steps protect occupants from the invisible dangers that lurk in seemingly harmless floodwater.

Understanding these differences is essential for making informed decisions about restoration after water damage affects your home. Your family's health depends on proper remediation techniques specific to the type of water intrusion you've experienced. 

Whether facing hurricane flooding or a burst pipe, having knowledgeable restoration professionals who understand these critical distinctions can make all the difference in your recovery journey. Visit Hazardclean.net or call 772-259-5018 to put your family on the road to recovery with experts who know exactly how to handle your specific water damage scenario.

To learn more about Hazard Clean Restoration visit:
https://hazardclean.net/
Hazard Clean Restoration
772-259-5018

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Restoration Revolution podcast,
where we help restore hope andput your family on the road to
recovery, one episode at a time.
Here's your host and owner ofHazard Clean Restoration, chad,
melanie.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Not all water damage is created equal.
Chad breaks down why hurricaneflooding is a whole different
beast than a busted pipe.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm sophia yvette, co-host andproducer.
Back in the studio with chadmaloney, owner of hazardard
Clean Restoration.
Hi Chad, how are you today?

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Doing good, Sophia Doing good.
Happy to be here for anotherepisode.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, Always great to have you back on Now.
Today's topic is one everyhomeowner in storm-prone areas
needs to hear.
So when your home floods from ahurricane, how does that differ
from a pipe leak?

Speaker 3 (01:08):
There's a lot that differs with that.
I mean, first, the source,right.
So if it's a pipe leak, we'retalking clean water, you know.
And so we're talking, you know,if it's a clean break and
everything else, the initialsource is going to be clean
water that's coming out and thengoing into the home or the

(01:28):
building or the business orwhichever, and then from there
it's going to basically interactwith building materials, any
kind of contaminants that arethere, and then it can get a
little bit more complicated.
But if we just look at thesource first, we're talking
about clean water initially.

(01:49):
Secondly, if you look at wherethe source is coming from, a
hurricane it's usually not cleanwater.
Usually it's going to be comingfrom outside and ground, and so
when you have that, you'regoing to have things you know,
especially if it's a lot of rainin the area.

(02:10):
Uh, it may not just be thelittle flooding around your home
that might have now.
You may have a body of waterthat's involved, especially if
you're on the coast, if you havehave any kind of lakes, canals
and everything else, those couldbe overflowing and that can be
what's actually going into yourhome or business and into the

(02:31):
building.
And when you have a hurricanewith floodwaters, that's what's
intruding especially.
We're talking about the floodpart of going underneath doors
and everything.
We're talking that the floodpart of going, you know,
underneath doors and everythingyou now it's going to be.

(02:51):
It's going to have bacteria,viruses, all kinds of pathogens
you're going to have.
You're going to have differentpesticides.
You know all in there.
So now that's what's in yourhome?
Uh, unfortunately.
And so there's a big difference.
When you just consider where thewater starts from, you know
this, the source of it, and ifwe just look at bacteria, it
it's amazing, when you reallylook at bacteria, how fast it

(03:13):
actually replicates andduplicates.
And you know you could have,you know, basically, one
bacterium or whichever, and ifyou take that and then you just
fast forward eight hours, youknow you're looking at one turns
into about over 16 million, youknow, and a day later you're in
the trillions.
If you think about thosepathogens that can get into the

(03:37):
building materials, now they'rein the wall cavities and all
throughout the building andthat's where it really.
You know your family or whoever, the occupants, I should say,
of the building, that's whenthey're really being put at risk
and get sick and everything.
You know that's what we don'twant to happen, and so that you
know there's there's differentthings that we do when we're

(04:00):
assessing, creating the scopeand everything in our initial
assessment to figure out wherethe source of water was.
If you know, if it was obviouslycoming from a hurricane, we
call that category three water.
But if it was flood water froma hurricane, we call that
category three water.
But if it was flood water froma hurricane that's coming into
the building, the scope of thatis going to be a lot different

(04:20):
than if it was clean categoryone water from a pipe leak.
Now we're going to also doublecheck and we're going to test
and we're going to do our duediligence.
So it's not like we just lookat it, because there's a lot of
water out there that looks clean, that actually is not clean and
we have the test to prove that.
There's been a lot of examplesthat we thought the water, you

(04:42):
look at it, you think it's cleanand we get it third party
tested and find out it wasn'tclean at all and it actually
could have got the occupantssick or worse.
So yeah, there's some bigdifferences in it and hopefully
I answered your question there.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yes, Thank you, Chad.
Now what are the maincontaminants found in hurricane
flood water that aren't presentin a pipe leak?

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Assuming we have a good water system and source and
everything is sanitary a watersource, I mean you're not going
to have E water system andsource and everything is
sanitary water source.
I mean you're not going to haveE coli and all these different
types of pathogens.
You know whether it's you knowdifferent bacteria's like E coli
or different types of viruses.
You know you're obviously notgoing to have like all these
pesticides and everything elseand toxins, all that would be

(05:32):
filtered out, the outs andtoxins, all that would be
filtered out.
And if it was a clean breakfrom a pipe verse, if it's
coming from category three,hurricane flood water and you
know we already discussed howfast the bacteria replicates and
everything, and so I mean it's,it really has to do with the
bacteria, the viruses, all thosepathogens.
Those aren't typically presentin a clean water supply.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Now, how does the drying and dehumidification
process differ between the twoscenarios?

Speaker 3 (06:04):
So it's a great, it's a really good question the
drying and dehumidification partof it.
So the drying part or phase ofthat project would not really
differ too much.
What would differ is everythingleading up to that point.
And so you know if, if, let'sjust say it's hurricane, right,

(06:24):
you know category three,hurricane, flood water.
You know, first we're we got toassess everything.
We got to make sure that youknow the if there's occupants or
no occupants or whichever, andassess the scenario.
We got to create a scope.
We got to make sure that thatwe're going to, if we're going
to stabilize that we take somemeasures to make sure we protect
, you know, the occupants, thatif there is occupants in the

(06:47):
building or in that building,you know we got to make sure
that we, we are, you know,cleaning some of the building
materials.
You know so that way it's safeand we can verify that with with
also some testing that we do.
And once we test that you knowour cleaning methods and
procedures have worked, then wecan stabilize that building and

(07:09):
we're not cleaning it for drying, we're just stabilizing it and
you know we'll send off the sendoff the samples or have that
third party come in.
I should say, before we cleanwhichever, but we'll have that
third party come in test, ifthat's the protocol that we came
up with, and when we get thoselab testing back, that's what's
really going to tell us if wecan proceed to drying.

(07:30):
Going to tell us if we canproceed to drying, most likely
on a category three water lossfrom flood waters from a
hurricane.

(07:57):
All right, I'm back.
So with the building materials,we're going to be removing
those and making sure thatwhatever we leave is something
that we can clean and alsoverify we're not going to have
any of those pathogens thereanymore and we'll clean them,

(08:18):
treat them, everything and then,once all that's done, then
you'd move into the drying phaseof the project where we would
actually dry the building andthat would be consistent with
how you would dry In a lot ofaspects.
It would be consistent how youwould dry if it was just a
regular clean water break and wehad it lab tested and came back

(08:40):
that there was no pathogens, noviruses or bacteria or anything
in that from like a clean watersource.
Then we'd be at the same pageback in the project of now.
We're just drying the buildingmaterials and when we do that
we're just trying the buildingmaterials and when we do that
we're doing it the mosteffective way possible.
So I hope that answered yourquestion.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yes, chad, it definitely did.
Now, thanks for walking usthrough that, chad, always
eye-opening.
We'll catch you next time onthe Restoration Revolution.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Thanks Sophia, thanks Sophia, bye everyone.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Thanks for listening to the Restoration Revolution
podcast, where recovery startshere.
Let us help put your family onthe road to recovery.
Go to hazardcleannet or call772-259-5018.
That's 772-259-5018.