Recent General Posts

Preparing Your Family for Potential Disasters | SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island

10/2/2024 (Permalink)

Emergency kit with canned food, water, first aid, flashlight, matches, candles, and other essentials Use these tips from SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island to assemble an emergency kit to keep your family safe when disaster strikes.

Living in this part of Texas means we may face a variety of natural disasters, including hurricanes, floods, and severe storms. It’s essential to make sure your family is prepared to handle these events safely and confidently. By creating a plan, you can protect both your loved ones and your home when disaster strikes.

Common Natural Disasters

Brownsville and the Islands are no stranger to severe weather, especially during hurricane season, which runs from June to November. Hurricanes bring high winds, heavy rain, and potential flooding. In addition to hurricanes, the region is also prone to thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flash floods. Preparing for these types of weather events is crucial to keeping your family safe.

Steps to Create a Family Disaster Preparedness Plan

When creating a disaster preparedness plan, make sure it is tailored to the specific threats in your area, such as hurricanes and floods. Here’s how to get started:

  1. Stay Informed: Keep track of weather alerts and emergency notifications in your area. You can sign up for local alert systems or download weather apps that will notify you when dangerous conditions are approaching.

  2. Create an Emergency Kit: Assemble an emergency kit that includes non-perishable food, bottled water, flashlights, batteries, a first-aid kit, and necessary medications. Make sure to have enough supplies to last at least three days.

  3. Establish a Family Communication Plan: Discuss how your family will stay in touch during a disaster. Assign meeting points if you get separated and ensure everyone knows the emergency contacts. Designate a family member or friend outside of the area as a point of contact in case local communication is disrupted.

  4. Evacuation Plan: Know the evacuation routes in your community. Identify multiple ways to leave your home in case roads are blocked. Make sure your vehicles are fueled and ready in case you need to evacuate quickly.

Protecting Your Home from Disasters

Aside from preparing your family, it’s important to take steps to safeguard your home. Trim trees and secure outdoor furniture to prevent damage during high winds. Consider installing storm shutters or reinforcing windows. Also, elevate important appliances and utilities to protect them from flooding.

Stay Ready with SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island

By preparing now, you can ensure your family’s safety when disaster strikes. If your home suffers damage from storms or flooding, SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island is Here to Help® you recover. Our expert team is ready to respond quickly and restore your property to its pre-damaged condition.

Don’t wait—get prepared today!

Visit SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island to learn more about how we can assist you in the event of a disaster.

Understanding the 3 Floodwater Classifications | SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island

9/10/2024 (Permalink)

Clean up of a flooded floor Keep your home safe from flood damage with these helpful tips from SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island!

All water is not created equal when it comes to water damage. There are three different classifications of water: clean, gray and black. When you learn about the differences in these types of water, it will help you better understand how to handle the situation.

There will always be a cleanup and restoration process that will follow a water damage situation no matter what type of water has caused damage. It is important, however, to be quick about removing all of the moisture and damp items to hamper the growth of mold since moisture is its ideal environment.

Intro to Clean Water

Much like its name states, clean water is considered just that—clean—and is not the type to pose an immediate threat to your health. This water is free of contaminants and can come from:

  • Broken water lines
  • Malfunctioning appliances
  • Toilet holding tanks
  • Snow melt and rainwater

This type of water damage is the easiest type to work with, since you won’t be dealing with many microbes living in the water, but remember, after 48 hours and following contact with the surfaces of a building, clean water will change to gray water.

Intro to Gray Water

With gray water, damage cleanup and restoration can become a bit more involved and may pose a health risk as it may contain chemical or biological contamination. The slight contamination in gray water means that the water would have to be thoroughly treated before it is safe for consumption.

Gray water is water that comes from dishwashers, aquariums, showers, etc. Again, the 48-hour exposure rule applies here as well because gray water will turn into black water if not treated.

Intro to Black Water

Black water is the most serious and dangerous of the three classifications and is considered highly contaminated by harmful chemicals and biological matter. This type of water includes floodwaters containing soil and all sewage waters.

Sewage is contaminated with microbes, including bacteria, protozoans, molds, fungi and more—many of which are harmful to humans.

Some of the diseases that can be transmitted by black water are:

  • Cholera
  • Typhoid
  • Hepatitis
  • Gastroenteritis-type illnesses

Remember, in a flood situation, it must be assumed that the water involved is black water since it picks up contaminants along its path.

These three different classifications of floodwater are recognized by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Remediation Certification (IICRC), an organization that certifies and sets the standards for cleaning and restoration industries to follow. All of our technicians study IICRC standards and best water restoration practices and are available to help determine the steps to take to get your home back to normal.

It doesn’t matter what type of water has caused damage to your home or business, SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island is Here to Help® get the situation under control and make it "Like it never even happened." Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you need emergency cleanup and restoration services!

Tips before heat arrives in Brownsville Texas

4/18/2017 (Permalink)

Safety Tips Before Extreme Heat Arrives

  • To begin preparing, you should build an emergency kit and make a family communications plan.
  • Know those in your neighborhood who are older, young, sick or overweight. They are more likely to become victims of excessive heat and may need help.
  • Be aware that people living in urban areas may be at greater risk from the effects of a prolonged heat wave than are people living in rural areas.
  • Get trained in first aid to learn how to treat heat-related emergencies.

 

Tips To Prepare Your Home

  • Install window air conditioners snugly; insulate if necessary.
  • Check air-conditioning ducts for proper insulation.
  • Install temporary window reflectors (for use between windows and drapes), such as aluminum foil-covered cardboard, to reflect heat back outside.
  • Weather-strip doors and sills to keep cool air in.
  • Cover windows that receive morning or afternoon sun with drapes, shades, awnings, or louvers. (Outdoor awnings or louvers can reduce the heat that enters a home by up to 80 percent.)
  • Keep storm windows up all year.

 

  • #HeatSafety
  • #BeatTheHeat
  • #SummerSafety
  • #GetReady