Flooded basement? Your first 10 minutes decide the bill.
Water mitigation crews say the difference between a $500 dry-out and a $25,000 gut-job is usually the first hour.
Follow this exact order and you'll cut your losses — sometimes by thousands — and never hand your insurer a reason to deny the claim.
These are the steps mitigation crews themselves run; the math behind the cleanup bill is in our cost guide, linked below.
The 10-minute plan (do them in this order)
- Kill the power to the basement. Don't wade in until the breaker for that circuit is off — water + electricity is the one truly dangerous thing in this room. If the panel itself is wet or underwater, skip the basement and call the utility.
- Find and stop the source. Burst supply pipe → main shutoff (know yours before the next one). Sump pump failed → check the breaker / battery backup first. Sewage backup → stop running water in the house entirely. Rainwater through the floor → nothing to stop it yet; move to protecting belongings.
- Photograph everything before you touch anything. Wide shots of each flooded room, close-ups of damaged items with the waterline visible, video walk-through. Insurers accept photos; they dispute memories.
- Move what you can, raise it off the floor. Electronics, wooden furniture legs, documents, rugs. Don't carry anything heavy through water you can't see the bottom of.
- Call for professional extraction within the hour. Mold colonizes wet drywall and carpet padding within 24–48 hours — the sooner fans and dehumidifiers run, the smaller the job. See our emergency matching page for how to get someone out today.
What NOT to do
- Don't mop your way out of a Category 2/3 (grey/sewage) flood with bare hands — that water carries bacteria; it's a PPE job, not a towel job.
- Don't rip out wet drywall yourself before the adjuster sees it — document first, demo second.
- Don't run a normal household shop-vac on inches of water; it's rated for puddles, not events.
- Don't wait for the "slow" insurer callback to start drying — mitigation can't wait for paperwork. Photograph, then get crews started.
"What does cleanup actually cost?"
Straight answer: $500 to $10,000+ depending on area affected, water category, and what got soaked — and most of it is insurance-recoverable when the cause was sudden and internal. Full breakdown with the calculator: flooded basement cleanup cost →
FAQ
Who do I call first when my basement is flooded — water company, plumber, or restoration?
Order depends on source: whole-house incoming main break → water utility; toilet/sewage backup → plumber or restoration with extraction (Category 2/3 water, don't wade through it); burst supply pipe → plumber + drying crew together. If you can't tell the source, call the restoration firm first — they extract, classify the water, and tell you which tradesman you actually need. Our free match does exactly this triage in one email.
What should I do in the first 10 minutes of water damage?
Kill power to wet areas, find and close the main water shutoff, document with photos before touching anything, then start drying within the hour. Full minute-by-minute version: this page above.
Skip the 47-tabs phase — get a pro en route
Send us your ZIP and a sentence about what happened. We email 2–3 vetted local water-restoration pros with same-day availability. Free for you.
Don't see pros for your ZIP? Find a verified one yourself — 3 steps
- Search the IICRC pro directory — iicrc.org/find-a-pro lists water/fire restoration firms with active certification. Enter your ZIP; pick one with a 24/7 phone line.
- Check your state license — every legit restoration/plumbing firm is searchable in its state contractor registry (Texas: TDLR license lookup; most states: search "[your state] contractor license lookup"). License number in the footer or on the truck = ask for it and verify. 60 seconds, prevents the worst hires.
- Ask your insurer's adjuster — carriers keep preferred-vendor lists (state farm, allstate, progressive all have them) and a same-day direct repair line. If your loss is a claim, that line often responds faster than any public search.
Still stuck? Email [email protected] with your ZIP — we're expanding coverage metro by metro, and if we can't match you we'll point you to the best free directory for your county.
Quick questions
Is a flooded basement the basement's fault or the house's?
Rainwater seepage and failing drains are maintenance issues (often not covered). Sudden internal failures — burst supply lines, failed sump pump discharge, appliance hoses — are covered events on most policies. The cause on your report is what decides. Full coverage explainer →
How fast can a restoration company realistically get to me?
Nightly and weekend emergencies, 1–4 hours is common in metros; small towns can be longer. When you need extraction tonight, that response time is worth more than comparing quotes — get one crew started, then compare the estimate against ours.
Reviewed November 2026 · How we source numbers →