Pre-season (before June 1)
Test your main water shutoff valve — turn it off and back on. Many homes have shutoffs that haven't been touched in decades and will fail in the moment you need them. Replace any that are stuck or leaking before the season starts. Confirm where your sewer cleanout is and that you have access. If you have a well, service the pump and pressure tank. If you have a sump pump, test it.
72 hours before landfall
Fill bathtubs and storage containers with potable water — figure one gallon per person per day for at least 7 days. Fill a separate tub or large container with non-potable water for toilet flushing. Charge any battery-powered sump pump backup. Confirm your sewer cleanout cap is on tight (storm surge can backflow). If you're in a flood zone, consider sandbagging around the cleanout.
24 hours before landfall
Turn off the water heater (gas: pilot off; electric: breaker off) to prevent damage if the tank overheats during a power-and-water outage. Shut off your home's main water valve if the storm is forecast to bring catastrophic flooding to your area — this prevents backflow contamination from the municipal system. Disconnect any irrigation timers and shut off the irrigation backflow.
After the storm: safe reactivation
Inspect for visible damage to exposed pipes, water heater, and shutoff valves before turning anything back on. Restore main water slowly with all interior fixtures closed. Open faucets one at a time — kitchen sink first, hot side first — to flush air and watch for leaks. Bring the water heater back online only after confirming the tank is full. Watch your meter for an hour after reactivation to confirm no hidden leaks. If your area was under a boil-water notice, follow the timing exactly.
Water storage math for a typical Broward family
FEMA and the Red Cross recommend one gallon of potable water per person per day for drinking and basic hygiene, for at least seven days post-storm. A family of four therefore needs 28 gallons of potable water storage minimum, and prudent planning says 40 gallons. A standard bathtub holds 40-80 gallons depending on size, which is why filling the tub is the cornerstone of pre-storm water prep — but a tub that has not been deep-cleaned will contaminate the water and make it unsafe to drink. The right approach is to deep-clean the tub before the season starts, line it with a sealed water-storage bladder if you can find one, and supplement with stored gallon jugs. Non-potable water for toilet flushing is separate and can come from any clean container — a second tub, a pool, rain barrels.
Sewer prep that homeowners overlook
Storm surge and heavy rainfall can overwhelm municipal sewers and force backflow up your sewer line into the lowest fixture in your home — usually a first-floor toilet or shower. A backwater valve installed on your sewer line is the only reliable prevention, and we install them frequently in low-elevation neighborhoods and coastal cities. If you do not have a backwater valve and you live in a flood-prone area, the manual workaround is to plug the lowest drains in your home before the storm: a rubber expansion plug in the shower drain and the floor drains, and a towel-and-weight in the toilet bowl. These plugs are imperfect but they buy you hours of protection in a real surge event. After the storm, the plugs come out and you assess whether the surge was high enough to require a backwater valve installation before next season.
Generator and pump considerations
If your home has a sump pump (rare in Broward but present in some basements and below-grade utility rooms), confirm it is operational before storm season and consider a battery-powered backup pump for power outages. If you have a well, the well pump cannot run without electricity, so a portable generator or storage tank is necessary if you want continued water service during an outage. If you have a tankless gas water heater, it requires electricity for the ignition controls even though it is gas-fueled — a generator running the tankless during an outage gives you hot water, which is enormously morale-boosting on day three of recovery. We can install a small generator-interlock transfer switch for $400-800 that makes connecting a portable generator safe and code-compliant.
Post-storm reactivation in order
When power returns and you are ready to bring your plumbing back online, do it in this order, with all interior fixtures closed: 1. Visually inspect exposed pipes, water heater, and shutoff valves for storm damage. 2. Turn on the main water valve slowly while listening for hissing or rushing water indicating a break. 3. Open one cold-water fixture (usually kitchen sink) to flush air. 4. Open one hot-water fixture briefly to confirm tank pressure. 5. Restore power or gas to the water heater. Wait 30-60 minutes for the tank to come up to temperature. 6. Bring other fixtures online one at a time, watching for leaks. 7. Run all fixtures for several minutes to flush any debris from the lines. 8. Check your water meter for an hour with everything off — any continued spin indicates a leak you missed. 9. Follow any local boil-water notice exactly.
Insurance documentation during a storm event
If your plumbing sustains storm damage, the insurance claim runs the same playbook as any other plumbing claim, with one twist: cause-of-loss matters more in storm scenarios because some damage is covered by homeowner insurance, some is covered only by separate flood insurance, and some is in a gray zone. Document everything with date-stamped photos and video before any cleanup or repair. Note water heights on walls if there was flooding (mark with a pencil at the high-water line). Save any debris or damaged components for the adjuster to inspect. Open your claim within 72 hours of being able to access the property. Our written diagnostic reports from post-storm visits explicitly call out cause-of-loss so adjusters do not have to guess, which moves storm-related claims forward faster than verbal descriptions alone.
FAQs
Priscilla's Plumbing
Florida licensed plumbing contractor (license CFC1432961), woman-owned and family-run for four generations. Real licensed plumbers dispatched across Broward County 24/7 with flat-rate written quotes before any work begins.
- Office
- 4236 NE 6 Avenue, Oakland Park, FL 33334
- 24/7 dispatch
- (954) 982-6244
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 8 AM–5 PM · 24/7 emergency dispatch weekends & nights
- Credentials
- FL plumbing contractor CFC1432961 · insured · bonded