Emergency Preparedness and Response
Floods
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a helpful resource for homeowners anticipating or recovering from a flooding event. Learn how to protect yourself and your family from floodwaters in English and Español.
A Field Guide for Flooded Home Cleanup
Between October 2005 and March 2006, Enterprise Community Partners, NeighborWorks America, and NCHH, teamed with Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans to investigate how to safely and affordably decontaminate flooded homes in the Gulf Coast region following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The resulting guide, Creating a Healthy Home: A Field Guide for Clean-Up of Flooded Homes, was published in 2006 and has been used to assist in virtually every U.S. hurricane season since.
With the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Environmental Health Association, NCHH and Enterprise updated the guide in 2019 to reflect current best practices across a variety of housing types. A new Spanish-language edition, Guía práctica para la limpieza del hogar inundado, was published as well.
Flood Guide Resources
The following resources were referenced in A Field Guide for Flooded Home Cleanup, published jointly by NCHH and Enterprise Community Partners. For your convenience, we’ve included links to them here:
- ACR: The NADCA Standard for Assessment/Cleaning/Restoration of HVAC Systems 2013 [pdf; National Air Duct Cleaners
Association] - Considerations for Rebuilding Your Flood-Damaged House [pdf; FEMA, 2009]
- Homeowner’s and Renter’s Guide to Mold Cleanup After Disasters [pdf; CDC/EPA/FEMA/HUD/NIH, 2015]
- Homeowner’s Guide to Retrofitting: Six Ways to Protect Your Home from Flooding (3rd Edition) [pdf; FEMA, 2014]
- Lead Paint Safety: A Field Guide for Interim Controls in Painting and Home Maintenance [pdf; HUD]
- Protect Yourself from Mold [pdf; CDC, 2004]
- Rebuild Healthy Homes: Guide to Post-Disaster Restoration for a Safe and Healthy Home [pdf; HUD, 2015]
- Repairing Your Flooded Home [pdf; FEMA/ARC]
- Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms [pdf; FEMA]
En Español: Se hicieron referencias a los siguientes recursos en la versión en español de Una guía de campo para la limpieza de casas inundadas, publicada conjuntamente por NCHH y Enterprise Community Partners. Hemos incluido enlaces a ellos aquí. (The following resources were referenced in the Spanish-language version of A Field Guide for Flooded Home Cleanup, published jointly by NCHH and Enterprise Community Partners. We’ve included links to them here.)
- Cómo reparar su hogar inundado [American Red Cross/FEMA]:
- Después de las inundaciones: Consejos para la recuperación de tesoros familiares dañados [FEMA]
- Guía de limpieza de moho después de desastres para propietarios e inquilinos [CDC/EPA/FEMA/HUD/NIH, 2015]
Flood Guide Links
The following page links appeared in the flood guide as well:
- After the Flood Home Maintenance Series: (1) Be Careful When Pumping Out Flooded Basements [url; FEMA/SEMA, 2003]
Flood Guide Online Training
In 2020, NCHH released e-learning training modules for safe home cleanup after floods, drawing from the practices described in A Field Guide for Flooded Home Cleanup. Access the modules here.