Flood readiness

Flood Readiness: Protecting Your Property Before the Melt

As winter loosens its grip, the ground stays frozen while meltwater looks for shortcuts. Your job is to give it one that doesn’t run through your basement. Walk your property on a mild afternoon and trace where water goes. Extend downspouts well into the yard, clean debris from ditches, and make sure sump pump outlets run far from the foundation. If a low doorway has flooded before, stage a few sandbags now so you can drop them in place when the forecast turns wet.

Inside, lift valuables off the floor and store bins on shelves instead of concrete. Test the sump pump by adding water to the pit and verify the float works. A small backup pump on a battery keeps you in the game during short outages, and an inexpensive water alarm buys you precious minutes when a leak starts.

Flood prep is less about heroics and more about housekeeping with purpose. Spend an hour redirecting water outside and you’ll spend zero bailing it out inside.