APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – It was more than city streets impacted by Tuesday’s flooding.
Restoration companies said they’ve been flooded with calls since the severe storms hit.
Midwest Restoration in Little Chute says it usually gets just a couple of calls a night.
Jennifer Rottier, the company’s chief operations officer, tells FOX 11 they got 75 that night.
Amanda Wood was one of them.
“I came home from work to check on things, came downstairs and there were between three and five inches of standing water.”
This is the second time in three months Amanda Wood’s basement has flooded.
After having it redone the last time, Wood tells FOX 11 she and her family have been checking pumps regularly and clearing out drains.
“We feel like we’ve done everything we could to prevent this, that’s why it’s so frustrating!”
Wood’s preparedness was no match for Tuesday’s storms, and there are many others in the same boat.
Restoration companies across Wisconsin say their calls have also doubled, even tripled because of basement flooding.
Some have no choice but to start placing people on a wait list.
“We have probably over 500 air movers, 60 to 75 dehumidifiers that we’ll put on each project that has water, and every piece of equipment that we have is out. We don’t have one piece of equipment left in our shop.”
But there are things you can do in the meantime to speed up the process.
For those with insurance claims, employees say you should document as much as possible to prove the damage occurred when it did.
And estimators have a bit of advice for those who may not be insured.
“At least remove all of the wet materials that are in the basement,” said Midwest Restoration estimator Ray Leopold.
“Definitely make sure you might have a professional come out and test for moisture content, once that’s been taken care before you start putting the basement back together to ensure that you’re not going to have any issues down the road.”
