Dallas Storm/Water Damage: Seeking Guidance on Several Points.

[Skipper 6249]

Long story short, massive storm damage from Sunday.  Some was hail/sky light related, but vast majority resulted from a clogged storm drain in alley.  First time I've logged in since it happened as I've been going nonstop.  My family is safe and we are staying with family so all good with everything that really matters.   But crowd sourcing help on a few random issues.

Basic Facts:  Water pooled in from multiple angles but primary source was from alley to my garage, essentially bent my garage door to allow water into garage.  It was around 2.5 feet standing in my garage per water line.  Pooled into house and soaked floors (mix of hardwood and carpet) standing several inches high.  Currently about to dig into my policy docs but not optimistic full insurance coverage.  Insurance Company's position TBD.  I've talked to an expert on insurance situation generally so not focusing on that at the moment and going to let that play out.

1.  Water Remediation Company:  Still in process of ripping up flooring, 18 inches of wall.  Should be done tomorrow.  Carpet has been out but I'm starting to get a little nervous 50 fans are on my property that have not been used.  They continue to take the position that they need to rip everything out, treat the house, then will turn everything on to finish dry out.   I had neighbors with water damage (not as extensive) with a company that dried first and now is recommending they rip up floors.   On this point they continue to reiterate their way is the right approach although I was under the impression fans would be on night 1 (but power was off and they did not bring a generator).  The quote was "if we turn anything on before we clean everything it will aerosolize the contaminates".  That seems to make sense but they might be blowing smoke up my ass because they have been cheap (I think they materially underbid job which is a long story) but let me know if anyone is an expert and disagrees.

2.  Car Damage:   So I have a Cadillac Sedan.  Water was high enough in garage to fill my interior several inches but my engine appeared to be dry.  It also clearly was up my exhaust.   Battery is in trunk and I noticed a little bit of water in that area.  I bailed water out manually day 1, left doors, windows open, then called a mobile detailer to wet vac water out and clean, shampoo interior.  It's still not completely dry at this point but working on it.   I've driven it around my neighborhood and it appears to drive fine.  I think I clearly need someone to check it out. Sewell Cadillac Service Dept. tells me I need to take it to the Sewell collision center (which made no sense to me but multiple people said the same thing). Sewell collision hasn't returned my call. I can't find shit on google for someone specializing in this in Dallas.  Should a normal mechanic be able to check this out?  Any experience?   

My wife drives and SUV which is higher profile.  It was about as close as possible but did not get in her interior.  It had to have gotten up exhaust, but I've been driving her car all over town fine.  I still feel like I should get it checked out somewhere.  Any thoughts appreciated.

 

3. Seller Disclosures:  I'm not going to go into detail on this point publicly but upon information and belief after discussions with neighbors I've determined the Seller failed to disclose something that I'm positive would have led me to investigate further and likely taken action to prevent the damage. Or passed on the house all together.  I bought it 3 years ago.  I'm going to ask litigators at my firm soon as well as a buddy that owns a broker company when he is back from vacation but let me know if anyone that has gone down this path.  Feel free to PM.

 

Any help greatly appreciated.   It's been quite the life experience!

 

 

[Teddyballgame 441]

I can answer the house damage.   Your remediation company is correct.  They are treating your house as a cat 3 water loss which it is because it was from ground water...Cat 3 is potentially highly contaminated water ( black water)...when you have a cat 3 water loss,  everything needs to be taken down to the studs and dried with dehumidifiers and fans.   You don’t want fans blowing air until house gutted

[Skipper 6249]

2 minutes ago, Teddyballgame said:

I can answer the house damage.   Your remediation company is correct.  They are treating your house as a cat 3 water loss which it is because it was from ground water...Cat 3 is potentially highly contaminated water ( black water)...when you have a cat 3 water loss,  everything needs to be taken down to the studs and dried with dehumidifiers and fans.   You don’t want fans blowing air until house gutted

Thanks.  Confirmation on that point is good.  Should hopefully have the fans and dehumidifiers going by this time tomorrow.

[TwiceHorn 31648]

Sorry to hear about this.  Where are you generally?

I have some experience with latent defect litigation, but none with water/flood damage.  The biggest issue is proving seller's knowledge of the defect, as you might surmise.  Neighbors are going to be, as you have determined, key witnesses.

You can dick around with DTPA, but honestly I'm not sure it's worth it.  The treble damages provisions are actually quite narrow, and it requires all sorts of pre-suit notices and mediation that are probably just a pain in the ass.  It's straight up fraud/negligent misrepresentation.

Sounds like you have a pretty tasty case, but collectability is going to be a huge issue more than likely.

Edited June 13, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Gil Bang 26070]

When you bought, did you get a CLUE report? 

[ButtFumble 5186]

about 30 houses flooded in my moms neighborhood (not dallas) and they ripped shit to the studs and slab before any fans

rip out, bleach (some say no bleach because it is wet), then there is a dry chemical to treat everything with, then fans (and dehumidifiers if needed) and dry the shit out of the place

everything that touched water went in the shit pile in the front yard

neighborhood looks like a fucking war zone right now......some people had to take out 2'+ above water line because of how long water stayed and soaking up the dry wall

there i no saving shit that was wet....NOTHING (well one guy saved an old metal phone booth that looks like it was media blasted and repainted

[tantric superman 4668]

Sympathy.

And I was whining about a little tree damage.

[Reagan1k 3024]

I would not let the remediation company do a sheet rock flood cut any less than 12" above the water line after contaminated water was in the house. 

That's pretty much the bare minimum and a lot of people start at 18" above water line.  Just my opinion.

Also on the drying....I think they are correct...you aren't trying to dry the damaged shit.  They need to get all that carpet, drywall, etc. out and then decontaminate and dry what's to remain....not the other way around.

Floods suck.  Been through a couple of them in the 80's and 90's. 

Good luck and keep meticulous records - as in a daily diary of who, what, when, where, and how much.

[Skipper 6249]

Thanks.   I don't think it was ever above 6 inches anywhere (likely maxed out at 3) so 18' probably about right.  Except the garage and laundry room next to the garage.  I'll make sure those go higher.   Once I realized what was happening I was able to open gates and unclog drainage to divert water and the rest receded quickly.  The entire water event start to finish was less than 30 minutes and all within an hour of first rain drops.  I've never seen anything like it.   Live in lake highlands.  For those that listen to the the Ticket in Dallas I know Corby has talked a lot this week about it (I caught one segment driving around).  He lives about half a mile from me.   As he said we were the epicenter. Check out his twitter feed from Monday and he posted a video of a "river" down his street.  That's what it was like. 

I have rental property (my old house) in a higher elevated neighborhood as well and it's amazing all of the trees that are down. I was lucky that my rental property doesn't need more than a new roof and garage door.   2 Trees are down but thankfully not on the house.

[LonghornJones 837]

Our new house is at Abrams and Royal, and that neighborhood is just destroyed. I've never seen damage like that. It truly looks like a tornado went through.

[TwiceHorn 31648]

42 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Thanks.   I don't think it was ever above 6 inches anywhere (likely maxed out at 3) so 18' probably about right.  Except the garage and laundry room next to the garage.  I'll make sure those go higher.   Once I realized what was happening I was able to open gates and unclog drainage to divert water and the rest receded quickly.  The entire water event start to finish was less than 30 minutes and all within an hour of first rain drops.  I've never seen anything like it.   Live in lake highlands.  For those that listen to the the Ticket in Dallas I know Corby has talked a lot this week about it (I caught one segment driving around).  He lives about half a mile from me.   As he said we were the epicenter. Check out his twitter feed from Monday and he posted a video of a "river" down his street.  That's what it was like. 

I have rental property (my old house) in a higher elevated neighborhood as well and it's amazing all of the trees that are down. I was lucky that my rental property doesn't need more than a new roof and garage door.   2 Trees are down but thankfully not on the house.

I imagine a big source of your problem is all the new construction in the area with over coverage of lots with house and concrete creating drainage problems.  This was a big problem in Preston Hollow and the Park Cities 10-20 years ago, but the water has found new places to go, and park cities building codes, at least, control lot coverage.

[Skipper 6249]

20 minutes ago, LonghornJones said:

Our new house is at Abrams and Royal, and that neighborhood is just destroyed. I've never seen damage like that. It truly looks like a tornado went through.

That's it!  I'm in Oak Highlands off one side of Arborside.  My rental/prior home is in the neighborhood by elementary school on other side of Arborside.  It's amazing a non-tornado caused the damage it did.   Like I said, I went from being pissed it looked like a storm was going to delay me from poolside beer sipping  while my 2 year old was (thankfully) with his grandparents, to sweeping water out of my house in less than an hour.

[Skipper 6249]

5 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I imagine a big source of your problem is all the new construction in the area with over coverage of lots with house and concrete creating drainage problems.  This was a big problem in Preston Hollow and the Park Cities 10-20 years ago, but the water has found new places to go, and park cities building codes, at least, control lot coverage.

Possibly some but neighborhood is pretty established.  Hardly any tear downs.  All built up in late 70's early 80's.

[LonghornJones 837]

I'm on Raeford, and friends on Seagrove. Both streets just annihilated. Multiple old growth trees on cars and houses.

[Skipper 6249]

2 minutes ago, LonghornJones said:

I'm on Raeford, and friends on Seagrove. Both streets just annihilated. Multiple old growth trees on cars and houses.

Yep. My rental is off Vista View over there and sister still lives on that street.   She was lucky as well her trees didn't land on their cars or house.

She saw some facebook post about someone hearing from their insurance that our area may potentially be designated as a disaster area by FEMA.  No idea but sounds like that could possibly help with my damage so let me know if you hear anything on that front.

[LonghornJones 837]

I will. One friend on Seagrove is active in the community and our neighbors are decently connected, so if it is I will hear about it soon.

[C-Man 27293]

15 hours ago, Skipper said:

Long story short, massive storm damage from Sunday.  Some was hail/sky light related, but vast majority resulted from a clogged storm drain in alley.  First time I've logged in since it happened as I've been going nonstop.  My family is safe and we are staying with family so all good with everything that really matters.   But crowd sourcing help on a few random issues.

Basic Facts:  Water pooled in from multiple angles but primary source was from alley to my garage, essentially bent my garage door to allow water into garage.  It was around 2.5 feet standing in my garage per water line.  Pooled into house and soaked floors (mix of hardwood and carpet) standing several inches high.  Currently about to dig into my policy docs but not optimistic full insurance coverage.  Insurance Company's position TBD.  I've talked to an expert on insurance situation generally so not focusing on that at the moment and going to let that play out.

1.  Water Remediation Company:  Still in process of ripping up flooring, 18 inches of wall.  Should be done tomorrow.  Carpet has been out but I'm starting to get a little nervous 50 fans are on my property that have not been used.  They continue to take the position that they need to rip everything out, treat the house, then will turn everything on to finish dry out.   I had neighbors with water damage (not as extensive) with a company that dried first and now is recommending they rip up floors.   On this point they continue to reiterate their way is the right approach although I was under the impression fans would be on night 1 (but power was off and they did not bring a generator).  The quote was "if we turn anything on before we clean everything it will aerosolize the contaminates".  That seems to make sense but they might be blowing smoke up my ass because they have been cheap (I think they materially underbid job which is a long story) but let me know if anyone is an expert and disagrees.

2.  Car Damage:   So I have a Cadillac Sedan.  Water was high enough in garage to fill my interior several inches but my engine appeared to be dry.  It also clearly was up my exhaust.   Battery is in trunk and I noticed a little bit of water in that area.  I bailed water out manually day 1, left doors, windows open, then called a mobile detailer to wet vac water out and clean, shampoo interior.  It's still not completely dry at this point but working on it.   I've driven it around my neighborhood and it appears to drive fine.  I think I clearly need someone to check it out. Sewell Cadillac Service Dept. tells me I need to take it to the Sewell collision center (which made no sense to me but multiple people said the same thing). Sewell collision hasn't returned my call. I can't find shit on google for someone specializing in this in Dallas.  Should a normal mechanic be able to check this out?  Any experience?   

My wife drives and SUV which is higher profile.  It was about as close as possible but did not get in her interior.  It had to have gotten up exhaust, but I've been driving her car all over town fine.  I still feel like I should get it checked out somewhere.  Any thoughts appreciated.

 

3. Seller Disclosures:  I'm not going to go into detail on this point publicly but upon information and belief after discussions with neighbors I've determined the Seller failed to disclose something that I'm positive would have led me to investigate further and likely taken action to prevent the damage. Or passed on the house all together.  I bought it 3 years ago.  I'm going to ask litigators at my firm soon as well as a buddy that owns a broker company when he is back from vacation but let me know if anyone that has gone down this path.  Feel free to PM.

 

Any help greatly appreciated.   It's been quite the life experience!

 

 

Based on what you're saying, sounds like if there's no flood policy in place you're not going to have much -- if any -- coverage for the home.

With regard to the cars, listen to and do what Sewell tells you. You probably haven't heard from them because I imagine they're slightly overwhelmed at the moment. The cars are covered by your insurance for flood. You will want to file a comp claim if there's the slightest thing wrong with the cars due to the rising water. 

Edited June 13, 2019 by C-Man

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

9 hours ago, Skipper said:

Yep. My rental is off Vista View over there and sister still lives on that street.   She was lucky as well her trees didn't land on their cars or house.

She saw some facebook post about someone hearing from their insurance that our area may potentially be designated as a disaster area by FEMA.  No idea but sounds like that could possibly help with my damage so let me know if you hear anything on that front.

Not sure if that will matter for flood damage.

[tantric superman 4668]

We are in that little slice northeast of the Audelia library.  A couple of big trees down, but other than them falling on a couple of parked cars, I haven't seen too much major damage there.  I think it is one of the higher areas so did not see any drainage or flooding issues. 

[Reagan1k 3024]

9 hours ago, Lobwedgephil said:

Not sure if that will matter for flood damage.

When you get a FEMA declaration it can open up the potential for things like SBA loans.  Doesn't mean the feds will pay to fix your shit but they'll make it easier for you to finance it if necessary.