Tips to Prepare for Flooding Season

Now that summer is here, so is flooding season, and with it, the risks that floods pose to our homes, property, and safety. If you live in an area that is at risk of flooding during the summer months, you need to adequately prepare. If you wait until the last minute, you’re not likely going to be able to get all the supplies you need. 

4 Tips to Prepare for Flooding Season

Here are some tips on what you can do and what supplies you need to prepare for flooding season. Prepare now while you can, so you can save as much as of your property as possible in the event of a possible flood. It’s not always possible to save everything outside your home, but it’s possible to keep from losing everything.

Keep a Place Ready for Outside Furniture

During a flood, one of the most dangerous things you can do is leave out anything that isn’t nailed down to the ground. Things like furniture, tools, and gardens will be lifted up by the water and thrown around. These items can end up strewn across your yard, tear up the landscape, or even worse, be thrown against your house.

Don’t assume that everything that’s set in the ground will stand up to rushing water. Moving water is powerful, it erodes, and it will wear down any foundation. Giving water objects to use as a battering ram is only going to make matters worse. 

So carve out a place for your things. Make sure you have somewhere inside to store your furniture where flooding is less likely to reach it. For this reason, we also recommend portable gardens, ones you can bring inside temporarily. 

For supplies, Pioneer Landscape Centers offer items like mulch, topsoil, and compost separate from your naturally occurring landscape. These artificial supplies will help your plants get nutrients, despite likely having less room to grow.

Remove Potential Debris

You may not realize, but there are a lot of things around your property that can become dangerous projectiles from the wind or rushing water, such as trash, leaves, and branches in your gutters or hanging off of trees. 

Floods commonly follow heavy rainfall and winds. This will flood your gutters, potentially even breaking them, and tear worn or weak branches off of trees. These will become a danger should they fall into rushing water, or be picked up by heavy winds. 

You also want to trim any overgrown vegetation around your house. These will be caught on debris and pulled out of the ground. Then they’ll be swept away by currents, potentially becoming hazards on your lawn. It’s worth getting a tool from your local Pioneer Landscape Center to trim shrubs and other plants to keep your yard in shape.

Repair Your Landscape

Don’t leave broken or worn landscape rock around your lawn. They can break down and be swept away by rushing water. You can also replace larger hardscapes with new ones that won’t be swept up by currents. You should talk to our experts at your local Pioneer Landscaping Centers before deciding on this.

Furthermore, you also want to fill holes in your ground now before a flood is even on the horizon. If you fill holes in your property now, you can compact the surface of the ground. This will make it less likely to fill with water and destabilize the ground around the hole. The unstable ground can lead to it becoming dangerous to walk on later after the flood.

Get Your Sand Now

Sand, specifically in the form of sandbags, is incredibly useful for building barriers to control the path of flooding. Sometimes, the sand cannot stop highrise floods, but it can certainly help. They are one of the first things people buy en masse and stack as support. Check with your local Pioneer Landscape Centers for more information on what kind of sand is available.

Stay Safe During Flooding Season With Help From Pioneer Landscape Centers

Flooding season is dangerous for anyone living in flood zones. They don’t always come with a warning, so it’s best to be prepared ahead of time. For support, Arizona, like other states, offers even more information on you can stay safe in extreme situations.

For more information on what supplies you can get to prepare, contact the experts at your local Pioneer Landscape Centers, and stay safe.