INDIANAPOLIS — While Friday's unseasonably warm and rainy weather has been a nice break from the cold, it could wreck havoc on your house.
Tene Wright's home has been flooded — twice.
"We came home to about five inches of water flooding the basement," Wright said. "Then, about 10 months later, the same thing happened again. The flooring was actually rippling and buckling and a lot of our things were just floating in the water."
There were major storms while she and her family were out of town, so the sump pump was working on overdrive. Each time their basement flooded, they had to replace the floor, the rug and more.
"We definitely lost some of our possessions," Wright said. "Fortunately, there were no photos lost."
They even bought a new sump pump and back-up battery, plus a new sensor that emails them when there's high water. Experts say you should have your sump pump check at least once a year to make sure it's working properly.
"Either the sump pump is old and not maintained and it burns itself out or we get enough rain so quickly that is actually will overload the system," Rick Michaelis said. "And it is possible to overload that system with four inches of rain. It's just hopefully it'll be spread out this weekend and not all at once."
Michaelis Corporation recommends clearing the leaves and debris from your gutters so water can drain into your downspouts. But if your home does get flooded ...
"First thing you need to do is reach out to your insurance company and find out what your coverage is," Michaelis said. "But you also need to call somebody like us who offers a 24-hour mitigation service to try to get that water out as quickly as possible. Mold can start growing within 72 hours that's a big problem for families."
