Flood Lessons from Recent Experience

Record the water line on a wall – this is critical in determining what equipment was under water and to what degree.
Be sure before entering the water that all main switchgear is off
Should your main switchgear become wet make sure that you instruct your main power supplier to disengage power to your building and to not restore it until you instruct them
Make sure to record the water line on the elevator pit walls – this may be a different water line than mechanical rooms etc.
When pumping water out make sure your restoration company does not pump at too fast of a rate – this will overflow the sewer systems and the water will re-enter the building
Remember that the water in the rooms may be contaminated – we had drums of old oil stored and they were floating and hence leaking into the water
Make sure that the cap on your emergency generator, if you have one, is sealed and the seal is tight – ours was not a sealed cap but rather a flip cap and the static pressure of the water popped the cap and water entered the diesel fuel and froze up the generator
Examine all interior fan returns etc – this may require cutting in access doors – our return fan has a closed bottom and there were gallons of water in there – once we trying to start the fans we heard the water
Determine how many feeds you have to your building and if your switchgear is damaged can you back feed and restore partial power to the building

BOMA | Greater Huntsville