MIL House ruined by burst pipe - what to do?

[toomanyeasterbunnies]

Just had a phone call from MIL neighbour - MIL is visiting relatives and MIL house has been flooded. House is ruined. Ceilings down in most rooms and nearly every room flooded. MIL is on her way back but will take a few hours to get here. What can I do in the meantime to help? My H has tried calling the insurance company but they have no record of a policy! FIL is abroad travelling so he will have to come back. But I feel like I need to being doing something to help and I'm not sure what. What would you do to help?

turn off the water main at the stop cock. Turn off the electricity. rescue important papers and photos, take somewhere else to spread out and dry

you can buy or hire a wet-and-dry vac, it will suck up surface water off the floors and out of the carpets (carpets will need multiple goes)

open doors and windows, don't try to dry it out by heat and closed doors, this will just make it stink.

open the loft hatch to get airflow

put damaged stuff outside with a polytarp. Assuming you actually do have insurance cover, they will want to see what was damaged. Start writing lists of what was damaged. Even your list of persil/biscuits/flour will add up to hundreds of pounds when you have to buy new.

You will need big industrial dehumidifiers. The insurance company will (should) put a claims handler on who knows where to get them. Read the electricity meter before they arrive as they will use hundreds of pounds worth of electricity that you can claim for. You will also need an electrician to say if it is safe to turn the power back on. Make sure the house was not unoccupied for a month, and the heating was left on low, or the insurers will not cover it.

Book into a local travellodge or something until the house is habitable.

I'm assuming the water is clean water.
Rescue any vulnerable precious items - photos, pictures, documents etc. Get them somewhere with no damp.

Apart from switching off the water I would do very little until someone from the insurance company has been round. They will want to see it all as it is. Our insurance company then provided all the clean-up services we needed, including dehumidifiers, carpet people, painters and some lovely ladies who re-hemmed my poor floor length curtains.

I hope you start to get things moving along soon.

The main thing is to get the water and electricity off, and try and rescue documents/photos etc. Take photos of everything, but don't take furniture or carpets out as the loss adjusters will need to see it all. Once a claim is in place they will send the industrial cleaners, dehumidifiers etc, and advise about alternative accomodation claims

Their bank statements should show premiums going out, so you could identify an insurer that way if you can't help MIL find the policy docs.

you can put stinking wet carpets and furniture outside, as long as they can still be inspected and are not in the front where they may be stolen.

electrical appliances should be assumed to be unsafe and left unplugged.

you may find the phone doesn't work if water in the master socket.

be very cautious of itinerant builders or workmen that you've never heard of.

I would also suggest getting some clothes out of wardrobes/drawers into a nice dry environment.
Contact local estate agents to find furnished accommodation.
If you spend any money keep receipts.
Agree with leave everything for insurance co. to see, they will then arrange and pay for everything with their own contrctors.
My insurance company paid for everything when this happened to me,however, with this cold weather the loss adjusters are likely to be very busy and it may be a couple of days before they can get to the house.

good idea about the clothes.

Anthing washable you can just do (but look out for staining) as you won't need to claim and PIL will have enough fresh clothes ready

Anything dry-cleanable, dry out so it doesn't get any worse, and the insurers will perhaps have a trade cleaner.

and try to dry out shoes at home, stuffed with newspaper. Leather shoes will actually dry out in a freezer! the cold stops the leather rotting, and the moisture will be drawn out onto the coils

Thank you for all your suggestions. My H has moved what he can and the rest will need to be done once the insurance has been sorted out. My poor PIL.