Crews Work On Restoring Water-Damaged Buildings Following Storms

While most people around Green Country have their power back, some are still dealing with water damage from the Father's Day storm.

Workers said the combination of widespread debris and lingering power outages made it hard for cleanup crews to work as quickly as they normally would.

Workers also said there were not enough generators to power up all the tools needed for restoration while power was out, so crews are still catching up.

The Father's Day storm created chaos on Theresa Hall's home in Broken Arrow.

"Water's just pouring out of my ceiling fan,” said Hall. “The next thing you know, I'm trying to get it in the trash can. Next thing you know, the whole ceiling falls in. My neighbor calls, there's a tree on my house."

Hall said there were holes in her roof and water in her bedroom, so she called 1-800 Water Damage.

"They cleaned up, got all the insulation up, they cut all the ceiling out except the part they couldn't get down," said Hall.

Jairus Daniels with 1-800 Water Damage showed News On 6 how his team responded to a building near 61st and Lewis in Tulsa.

Daniels said because there was no power here for a week, the sump pump backed up and led to flooding.

"So, after we come and extract the water, we'll come and remove all the baseboards or cove base around the parameter to be able to get access to the walls,” said Daniels. “We'll make cavity holes so that we can blow the dry air into the wall cavities, and then we'll set dehumidifiers to control the humidity in the air."

Daniels said with the most recent storm, water got in mainly through roofs and vents, and it was hard for crews to work around debris and power outages.

Crews said restoration can get expensive, but customers would be saving money and headaches down the road.

"So, it's super important for us to come in and get the water extracted because if it stays for too long, it can start causing mold issues,” said Daniels. “It can cause you to start tearing out drywall, tearing out a lot of different flooring versus us coming to set up equipment and drying the material."

Daniels also said if you have spots on the ceiling or if your baseboards look like they are pulling away from the walls, you might have water damage.