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Water damage to your home is a serious issue for most homeowners and a lot of insurance policies do not cover floods unless you purchase a separate policy.  If you evacuated before a hurricane hit or when your area was flooding, you probably left wondering whether your home was going to suffer irreparable damage or not and you will want to get back to it as quickly as possible.  Do not be in a rush to get back inside your home to assess the damage.  There are a few things that you need to do before you step back inside your home.

First, you need to make sure that the power to your home is completely turned off before entering it.  Do not assume that just because the home next door to you has no electricity that yours does not, either.  This can be a potentially fatal error, especially if there is still standing water in your home.  If you see any downed power lines on your street or in your yard where there is standing water, do not go there and do not attempt to drive your vehicle over these areas.  Risk of electrocution is extremely serious when downed power lines are concerned, as even someone who has been an electrician for years cannot tell by looking if such a line is live or not.  You simply cannot tell.  

Get rid of as much of the standing water in your home as possible.  If there are holes in your roof or your windows, they should be covered with tarps, especially if you are expecting more rain within the next week.  Inspect your attic and its contents to see just how much water leaked inside.  Any insulation that has gotten wet must be replaced.  It is useless once it gets wet.

Do not attempt to use a normal vacuum cleaner to remove standing water from your home.  A wet vacuum cleaner can be used, but only after you are certain that the electrical circuits in your home have not been irreparably damaged.  Do not use artificial heat sources such as space heaters or blowers to speed up drying out your home.  All carpets and their padding must be torn up and thrown away after being flooded, especially if you think the water was contaminated with sewage.

Flood Damage Help

Home canned food is a comfort to many of us and it rightly should be.  It reminds us of times that have long passed when having a garden and raising your own food was just a part of life.  In these days with the many grocery stores and markets that we have available to us, sometimes we forget that growing and canning your own food at home has its benefits.  It might take a little effort, but in the end it is usually worth the trouble. 

But, the drawback of home canning is the fact that sometimes when we can our own food, they become contaminated with mold due to a number of different factors that we may not realize right off hand.  Most of these are completely avoidable and if you are a careful canner, you might not have ever had a moldy jar, but some of us are completely clueless as to how to avoid this contamination. 

Whatever you are canning, be it fruits or vegetables, you need to make sure that they are washed thoroughly before you start to get them ready for processing.  Starting with fresh and clean ingredients is the first step to un-contaminated food.  Cut off any bad spots from these items and throw these pieces away.

Sterilize the equipment that you plan on using in boiling water.  Fill the jars you are going to use with hot (not boiling water) and put them in the pot you are going to use.  Fill the pot with hot water, as well, and let the water come to a slow boil on the stove.  Allow it to boil for about 10 minutes or so.  Pour the water from the jars back into the pot, since this water is already sterilized. 

After you are done preparing your food and getting it ready to put in the jars, transfer the food to the jars you have sterilized.  Do not pack the food too tightly.  Allow sufficient room between the food and the top of the jar.  Packing food too tightly can result in the food in the center not getting hot enough to kill bacteria and mold spores.  Place the lids and the screw bands on them tightly and begin processing them in the pot of hot water.  Bring the water to a boil again.

Store in a place away from heat (and sunlight) and allow them to cool naturally.

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