Flash Floods and Water Damage

8/17/2016 (Permalink)

Phoenix Water Damage Can Happen from Flash Floods and Leaks

SERVPRO Pumps Out the Water and Mitigates Damages

Despite rare rainfall and a desert climate, the Arizona deserts are often home to some of the worst flooding events in the nation. The reason for this is a combination of climate, topography, and soil mixture, which in Arizona all combine to form highly flood-prone conditions. Generally, in the Sonoran Desert, when it rains it pours. And it pours a lot, with sudden and unexpected torrents of rain being commonplace during the wet seasons. However, other regions of the United States often have more rain in short periods of time than here, so why do we get hit with some of the worst floods?
 
The answer is quite simple. In Phoenix, water damage due to floods is ultimately the result of an extremely flat topography combined with clay-heavy soil. Phoenix is a construction company's paradise due to its large, flat, open spaces to develop into, but these cause problems during floods, where little terrain variation means floodwaters can rampage across neighborhoods and streets without much to stop them. Combine this with the clay-heavy and non-water absorbent soil of the desert, and you have a deadly mixture for fast-forming and wide-damaging flash floods.
 
To compound problems, rainfall in Arizona often comes in the form of violent but short sessions during which up to multiple inches of rain can fall in a period of minutes. This causes flash flooding, intense and heavy floods which form in minutes. Every few years, you may see some portion of highway on the nightly news, covered with water and swamped cars. This is one of the few natural disasters that can indeed hurt local homes, and unfortunately, there is not much to be done to prevent these occurrences from happening. However, at SERVPRO we are able to respond quickly after the disaster has happened and help residents to recover in a very short period. This means arriving on the site with the correct equipment and personnel to extract water and mitigate damages.
 
SERVPRO of Avondale / Goodyear / Southwest Phoenix has years of experience in dealing with the complexities of the Sonoran Desert and its climate and is ready after any major storm to deal with water damage in the local community. If you require our emergency restoration services, contact us 24/7 at (623) 537-9999.