By Connor Boyd
BLOOMINGTON – The recent downpours of rain in Illinois has caused many basements to be flooded.
Spokesperson for Bloomington Servpro Jake Tucker explained the steps to restore a flooded basement.
“You want to make sure everything is safe,” Tucker said. “Definitely want to get an electrician over and just make sure there’s no electricity in the water. You really want to get the source fixed, a lot of it this time around is sump pumps and the main goal is definitely going to be to get some drying equipment to start the dehumidification and evaporation process.”
Tucker added that there is something different about this year.
“We got so much rain this time around that we’ve had people that have not had water in their basement in 15-20 years call us,” Tucker said. “It’s just that when the ground has that much water poured into it that quickly it’s got to go somewhere.”
The rain does not seem to be going away anytime soon, as Bloomington-Normal is in for another round of thunderstorms this weekend. Tucker warned how to prevent future flooding.
“You want to make sure and just do maintenance on your sump pump, depending on how often it runs, have a yearly plumbing check up call with your plumber, I would say five years is pretty average,” Tucker said. “Keep your outside windows pretty clean so that the tiles don’t get clogged up or anything like that.”
Tucker said that keeping your home at around a 50-percent humidity rate is best for preventing mold.
Connor Boyd can be reached at [email protected].
