Since Hurricane Ida hit the east coast and Philadelphia regions about a year ago, the area is starting to see the long-term effects of flood damage. Long-term flood damage manifests in many ways, from structural to emotional. Hurricane Ida was a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane that led to several tornado outbreaks and severe flooding throughout the Northeast U.S. The major damage caused in Pennsylvania came from an EF2 tornado, heavy rains, and extensive flooding. The Schuylkill River flooded into large parts of Philadelphia and surrounding urban centers. Overall, Ida caused $100 million in damage to Southern Pennsylvania. Floods of this size are rare in this area, but with hurricanes and other weather events becoming increasingly erratic due to climate change, it may happen again. For now, we are experiencing long-term flood effects and are observing why expert restoration is so important. At ServiceMaster Professional Cleaning and Restoration, we provide complete water damage restoration in Coatesville, PA and the local region for flooding and other water exposures.
Professional Water Damage Restoration
Professional water damage restoration services will reverse even the most severe flood damage, restore your personal belongings, dehydrate and sanitize your home, and eliminate the risk of long-term mold growth from hidden water saturation.
However, there are other effects of flood damage that communities continue to face even years after the initial disaster. Some long-term flood effects include:
- Structural: While we can restore your property and reverse structural damage to your home, most communities still face flood damage to infrastructure like roads, bridges, power, sewage systems, and more.
- Psychological: A severe flooding disaster is a traumatic event. Even if you didn’t lose a loved one or suffer serious effects from flooding, the aftermath of such a big impact on a community can be psychologically damaging. Anxiety, loss of appetite, depression, trouble sleeping, and other mental health conditions have been reported as symptoms of experiencing trauma from a flood.
- Economic: The cost of flood damage is The cost of clearing out contaminated flood water and fixing damaged buildings and infrastructure, added to the cost of paying firefighters, emergency personnel, and other workers overtime, can add up.
- Agricultural: Flooding doesn’t discriminate against who it affects. Farmers will also face damage as flooding kills crops, makes livestock sick, and creates toxic runoff from fields. This means food prices can increase, small farms will suffer, and field soil can take years to return to growing conditions.
- Environmental: One of the biggest and most complicated long-term effects of flooding is on the environment. Floods are destructive to all aspects of the environment by killing animals, plants, and microorganisms, and severely disrupting delicate ecosystem conditions.
If you’re facing flood damage, short or long term, we can help. To learn more about our water damage restoration services in Coatesville, PA, contact ServiceMaster Professional Cleaning and Restoration today at (610) 524-8003