Flood recovery

   / Flood recovery #1  

Pilot

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2004
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1,208
Location
Oregon
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JD 770, Yanmar 180D, JD 420 (not running), had a Kubota B6200
A nearby community got flooded 3 weeks ago, some places had 4 ft. of water, others just a foot deep in their houses. 11-15 inches of rain in 24 hrs. It's an old logging town, small houses, many built during the war (WWII for you kids). When water gets a foot deep, what's the prognosis on a house that wasn't worth a lot to start with? Sheetrock has been pulled, insulation pulled, but it will take awhile to dry things out because it rains all winter here in the northwest. If you want to see some info on it, google "Vernonia flood" and for some photos see:
KGW.com | Slide Show

No, it's not the worst flood you'll ever hear about, but it's the worst this little town has seen and it's just as much a disaster if it's your house.

We helped a lady get her stuff out 10 days after the flood, you could smell the mold growth starting but she still had paneling over the studs in the walls. Water had been 1 foot deep in the house. Some inspectors came by, said "60%, just like all the other houses in the area" but I wasn't there to ask what they meant, 60% of the value gone or remaining? And was 60% a threshold for some decision, such as tear it down or for some sort of assistance?

So, what has been the experience of you folks who have been thru a flood before--any hope for her house & her neighbors?
 
   / Flood recovery #2  
Though my home never flooded, there were 100,000 homes flooded in our area a couple of years ago and it was much worse conditions that you mention because they stayed flooded for over a month.

Many of these homes have been renovated and thousands more are being renovated. In most homes where the water was less than 4 feet deep, they are able to remove the drywall just 4 feet from the floor. In many cases they have to remove all the drywall because the water was deeper or it wicked the water up higher. Here, they had to replace all the electrical because the flooding was salt water and stayed flooded so long. Many doors had to be replaced and much flooring. All areas had to be allowed to throughly dry and then were treated for mold protection. Most appliances were trashed, washers, dryers, refrigerators, water heaters, dish washers, central air condensers and many window units, wall heaters, etc. Very few kitchen cabinets survived.

50% was the cutoff here that many people feared and many wished for. If your home was over 50% damaged, then it had to be rebuilt to meet all the new building codes which usually meant tearing it down completely and rebuilding it 3 feet higher off the ground than it was before. Many wanted their homes to be declared over 50% damaged so that their insurance would pay for full replacement and they could rebuild or move.

One of the main worries that people have is whether or not their fasteners which were under salt water so long will deteriorate in years to come.

I see no reason why the homes you mention can not be repaired unless some weren't worth living in before the flood. Hopefully, most of them had flood insurance and if not the gov't or charities may step in to help out.

At least most of the towns infrastructure seems intact compared to where it was almost completely wiped out in this area so they will at least have utilities to help them rebuild.

In a small community like that, people usually pull together and help each other out and stay and rebuild so there should be no loss of neighbors and neighborhoods such as we have seen here.

I hope that today most of them are able to be with their friends and relatives and temporarily forget their miseries and have a Merry Christmas.
 
   / Flood recovery #3  
If found this post when I was looking for one of my other posts. I was going to mention, if you want to seem some good footage of the Vernonia flood watch the next episode of Axmen which is on the history channel Sunday nights.
 
 
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