The Earth’s climate is changing rapidly and radically. The intensity of extreme weather events – heat waves, forest fires, floods, and droughts – has increased over the past 50 years. These phenomena have occurred before, but on average once a decade – and today they occur every year or even several times a year. Today, the weather conditions are often such that even a storm can do us great material damage – and sanitary factors are the strongest reason why we should know how to clean up after a storm.
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Weather Predictions
In recent years, we have increasingly witnessed extreme weather conditions such as unusually high temperatures, heavy showers – and storms that can submerge the most important streets of big cities. We have also seen the large fires and heat waves that prevent us from getting out of the air-conditioned room. Are, and to what extent, climate changes responsible for this crazy weather? For a long time, scientists could not give a precise answer to this question.
It was clear that due to the changed climatic conditions – the probability of events like these is increasing. However, it was quite difficult to give estimates for each specific case separately. Yet, the great advances in science and technology have in recent years finally enabled scientists to speak with greater certainty about the role of climate change in each case.
Weather Disasters Create Great Troubles
Weather disasters no longer surprise us. Everyday change of climatic conditions negatively affects nature and man. In addition to adversely affecting mood and health – unstable weather calls into question the existence of people in a material sense. In so many areas around the world, farmers are most affected. Their yields have usually been reduced due to heavy rainfall or strong gusts of wind, rain, or snow.
Yet even the people in the city are not spared the trouble. In numerous weather disasters, a large number of people were left without their homes or later had to compensate for high material damage. We hope that there will be no such extreme disasters during this year – but we can always count on storms and rains. Therefore, here is our guide on what to do and how to best clean up after a storm.
Storm And Flood – Precaution: Turn Off The Electricity
When we face strong storms, they must be accompanied by heavy rainfall. It is not uncommon that even floods occur. The extent of floods differs not only in the amount of precipitation – but also in the proximity of settlements to lakes and rivers that can overflow their banks and create additional problems.
If you are faced with water entering your home you need to know a few basic things. First, turn off the power so that water does not reach your electrical outlets. Otherwise, you risk not only being struck by electricity – but also causing additional fires in case of contact with electrical wires.
How To Clean Up After A Storm
For most people, major weather disasters and storms create major consequences. Broken window panes, power outages, or flood water carries enormous risks – not only from injuries but also from infection. What do we do in such situations? Here are some of our suggestions.
Dry Out The House
When the storm finally calms down you will see the real extent of the damage it has done. You can count on every possible scenario: Broken glass, a flooded house, broken trees, and broken branches. What is perhaps the best solution is to call an expert service to remedy such situations. They will certainly know best to thoroughly clean but also to drain the water in those places where you may not have noticed it.
If too much water has entered the house, you will also have to dry it by pumping out the water. For something like this, you will need professional help. Keep in mind that it is very important to dry the house within a maximum of 48 hours after the flood – because such an environment is conducive to the reproduction of microorganisms that can have fatal consequences for our health.
Remove Damaged Trees That May Be Dangerous
With big storms come strong gusts of wind that can sometimes destroy trees. This is an extremely dangerous situation. A fallen tree can not only cause damage to power lines or cars – but can also seriously injure or even kill someone. After a storm, it is important to first determine how much danger lurks from a tree that is fallen or wobbly.
If you see that the situation requires the removal of the tree – call an authorized tree service to minimize this danger as soon as possible.
According to findlocaltreeservice.com, experts who go out into the field make an urgent assessment of the situation. The danger may require the immediate removal of the tree that may cause risk to people and the environment. Also, you can expect additional problems such as wood rot after storms. Again, trust the experts because they will be able to assess at the very beginning which are the trees that will not overcome the flood conditions without rot.
Repair Roof And Broken Glass
Strong winds during the storm often break the glass on the window panes – and often happens they take away even the rooftops. There is no advice when the damage happens. Call the service that will safely remove the waste and glass left after this damage. On the other hand, try to secure yourself when it comes to the future. This involves changing the windows or the rooftop. In this case, we advise you not to save too much.
Install a reinforced roof with horizontally fixed panels – which will mitigate the effect of the wind or even practically eliminate it. The same rule applies when selecting windows. Install well-fixed window frames with stronger window glass. The fact is – this is a slightly larger investment, but be sure it pays off in the long run.
Remove Mold
After a flood or heavy rain that has penetrated your home, you can expect moisture to appear – especially if the insulation of your home is not the best one. Moisture is the main cause of mold in your home. Therefore, you can expect it in the bathroom, kitchen, attic – but also in all rooms that are not ventilated enough and moisture condenses in them. If mold has already appeared, you can start removing it before you start renovating the apartment – which is sometimes required after big storms.
Removal of the mold depends on the degree of infestation of the premises. If it has affected the premises too much – it is best to turn to professionals. They will dry your home with special means – and then coat and protect the parts of the house that have been affected by mold. If you do not have such a big problem with mold – you can do this yourself. Clean the mold with the help of special mold-cleaning products or a bleach – which has proven to be very effective in solving this problem.