Flood & storm damage claims in WA: what to do in the first 48 hours

From December 10–12, 2025, an atmospheric river parked over Western Washington and pushed the Snohomish and Skagit rivers to the highest levels ever recorded on either one. The Skagit crested about two feet above the old 1990 record, and roughly 75,000 people in Skagit County were under evacuation orders. Then, in March 2026, the Snohomish flooded again. Seven months later, homeowners from Monroe and Snohomish to Mount Vernon and Burlington are still mid-claim — or mid-rebuild.

If you're reading this standing in a damaged house, this is for you. Below is the order of operations for the first 48 hours, what your insurance actually covers (and what it doesn't), how to document the damage so the claim doesn't get lowballed, and how to spot the storm-chasers who circle flooded neighborhoods looking for desperate people. The same steps work for a burst pipe in January — the water doesn't care how it got in.

What should I do in the first 48 hours after flood or storm damage?

Stay out of the house until it's safe, document everything before you touch anything, take reasonable steps to stop more damage, then call your insurer and open the claim. In that order. What you do — and photograph — in these first two days decides whether the claim goes smoothly or turns into a fight.

1. Stay safe before anything else. Don't go back inside until fire or building officials say it's safe. Floodwater hides live wires, gas leaks, sewage, and floors softened to cardboard. If you can reach your electrical panel without stepping in water, kill the power. If you smell gas, get out and call the utility. No photo is worth a hospital trip.
2. Document everything before you clean up. Walk the house with your phone. Shoot one slow video per floor, then close-up photos of the waterline on the walls, damaged furniture, appliances, and serial numbers. Do all of it before you move a single thing — the method matters, and there's a full section on it below.
3. Stop the damage from getting worse. Tarp the roof, board up broken windows, pump out standing water once it's safe to be inside. Your policy requires reasonable mitigation, and the state insurance commissioner's disaster page says the same thing: protect the property from more damage first, then file. Keep every receipt — emergency mitigation is usually reimbursable.
4. Make the claim call. Call your insurer's claims line and get a claim number. Ask when an adjuster will visit, what they need from you, and whether your policy covers additional living expenses if you can't stay in the house. If you can't, ask for an advance — many insurers will cut a check for the hotel right away.
5. Start a claim diary. Every call, email, and visit: date, time, name, and what was promised. One notebook or one note on your phone. When the claim drags into month three, this is the difference between "I'm pretty sure they said" and "on March 4 at 2:10 p.m., Dana said the adjuster would come Friday."

Does homeowners insurance cover water damage?

Usually yes if the damage is sudden and accidental — a burst pipe, a failed water heater, wind-driven rain through a storm-damaged roof, a tree through the ceiling. Usually no if it's a rising-water flood. Standard homeowners policies exclude flood damage; that takes a separate flood policy, typically through the National Flood Insurance Program.

Here's how insurers draw the line. Water that comes from inside the house or falls from the sky — a burst supply line, a washing machine hose that lets go, rain driven through a roof the wind just opened — is usually a covered peril. Water that rises up from the ground, whether it's the river over its banks or surface runoff pooling against the foundation, is a "flood," and standard policies exclude it. The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner puts it flatly: "a typical home insurance policy does not cover damage caused by flooding."

Flood coverage is its own policy, bought through the NFIP or a private flood insurer. Two things to know about NFIP policies: they cap at $250,000 for the building and $100,000 for contents, and coverage generally doesn't start until 30 days after the policy is written — you can't buy it as the river crests. FloodSmart, the NFIP's official site, lets you check your property's flood risk by address.

Two more gaps worth knowing about. Sewer backup is excluded on most standard policies unless you've added the endorsement — it's cheap, and after a storm like December's it's the first thing to ask your agent about. And gradual damage — the slow drip that's been staining the ceiling for months — gets denied as a maintenance issue. Insurers cover events, not neglect.

If the December 2025 floods hit you: the storms are covered by a federal major-disaster declaration, DR-4906. FEMA's page for the declaration shows which counties qualify and what individual assistance is still open. Check it even if you're insured — disaster assistance can fill gaps a policy won't.

How do I document damage so the claim doesn't get lowballed?

Photograph and video everything before cleanup, build a room-by-room inventory with ages and serial numbers, save every receipt for emergency repairs, and keep damaged items until the adjuster has seen them. Claims pay on evidence, not on how bad it felt — your job is to make the loss impossible to argue with.

• The video walkthrough. Start outside at the street, say the date and your address out loud, then walk every room slowly and narrate what you're looking at. Open closets, cabinets, and the crawl space hatch. A narrated video is hard to argue with later.
• The room-by-room inventory. For every damaged item: what it is, roughly how old, what you paid (or your best guess), and the serial number for electronics and appliances. A notebook works. A spreadsheet works. What doesn't work is "a bunch of stuff in the basement."
• Receipts for everything emergency-related. Tarps, board-up, water extraction, fans, the hotel, meals while you're displaced. Photograph each receipt the moment you get it — thermal paper fades fast.
• Don't throw things away yet. Ruined carpet, swollen cabinets, soaked drywall — pile it in the garage or the yard until the adjuster has seen it, or until your insurer tells you in writing that you can dispose of it. An adjuster pays on what they can see. A bare slab and an empty dumpster is a lowball waiting to happen.

One more thing nobody tells you: floodwater wicks up inside walls, and mold can start growing behind drywall in a day or two. Before anyone closes a wall back up, ask for moisture readings in writing and ask specifically about mold. "It looked dry" is how people end up gutting the same room twice.

If you'd rather not manage the repair side alone, our insurance restoration matching pairs you with local contractors who do insurance work every week — the ones who document as they go and dry a house out properly the first time.

What are storm-chaser scams and how do I avoid them?

Storm chasers are crews who roll into town after a disaster, knock on doors, and push for big upfront cash payments or signatures on the spot — sometimes on paperwork that signs your insurance payout over to them. You avoid them by slowing down and verifying every contractor's registration with Washington L&I before anyone touches your house.

They showed up in Snohomish and Skagit counties within days of the December floods — they always do. The red flags:

• Knocks on your door uninvited right after the storm, especially with out-of-state plates and no local address you can verify.
• Wants a large cash deposit upfront, or full payment before materials arrive.
• Pressures you to sign something on the spot. Read anything before you sign it — some contracts hide "assignment of benefits" language that signs your insurance payout over to the contractor.
• Offers to "handle the insurance company for you" or quietly rebate your deductible. That second one is insurance fraud, and it lands on you.
• Can't produce a Washington L&I contractor registration number.

That last one is your one-minute defense. In Washington, anyone doing construction work for pay must be registered with the Department of Labor & Industries — it's required by state law (RCW 18.27), and registration means a bond and liability insurance on file. Run any name through L&I's free verify tool and you'll see their status, bond, insurance, and any infractions. If they're not in there, they're not working on your house.

The insurance commissioner's office warns about the same post-disaster scams and runs a consumer hotline — 800-562-6900 on weekdays — if an insurer or a contractor is giving you grief. It's free, and they've heard every version of this story.

When should I bring in help?

As early as you need to — several kinds of help are free. Your insurer's claims line and the state insurance commissioner's consumer hotline answer process questions. For large or disputed claims, a licensed public adjuster is a legitimate option. And for the rebuild itself, a matching service can find you restoration contractors who work with insurance.

Public adjusters exist for big, disputed claims: they're licensed professionals who work for you rather than the insurer, usually for a percentage of the settlement, and they're a reasonable route when a large claim stalls or the offer doesn't match the damage. For the record, Ascent Prime is not a public adjuster, and nothing in this article replaces advice about your specific policy.

What we do is narrower, and for most people more practical. Ascent Prime is a free contractor-matching service based in Lynnwood. For storm and flood jobs, we help you organize your documentation and understand how the process works, then match you with restoration contractors who work with insurance — vetted, registered, and local enough to still be here after the check clears. It costs you nothing, ever.

If you want the full picture of how matching works — how we vet, who calls you, what happens after the handoff — that's on how it works.