Moderate difficulty  ·  About 2–4 hours

Step by step

1. 1

   Clear gutters and downspouts

   Clean leaves and debris out of your gutters and make sure downspouts are clear and carry water at least a few feet away from the foundation. Clogged gutters overflow and dump rain right against your walls and slab — one of the most common ways storm water gets into a Houston home. Add downspout extensions if yours empty right at the foundation.

2. 2

   Test your sump pump and drainage

   If you have a sump pump, pour a bucket of water into the pit to confirm the float rises and the pump kicks on and empties it. Clear any French drains or yard drains of debris. A sump pump that fails mid-storm is worse than none — test it before, not during, and consider a battery backup since storms cause power outages.

3. 3

   Seal gaps and place sandbags at low openings

   Walk the outside of the house and seal gaps around doors, low windows, the garage door, and where utilities enter with weatherstripping or caulk. Stack sandbags in front of doorways, the garage, and any low entry point where water would come in, building the wall a few bags high and tamping them tight. Sandbags won’t stop deep flooding, but they buy time against the first several inches.

4. 4

   Move water away from the foundation

   Check that the ground slopes away from the house on all sides, and shovel or add soil to fill low spots that pool against the foundation. Move planters, mulch, and anything that traps water away from the walls. Good grading is the cheapest long-term flood defense a Houston homeowner has.

5. 5

   Elevate valuables and important documents

   Move electronics, furniture, and stored boxes up off the floor — onto counters, shelves, or the second story. Put passports, the deed, insurance policies, and other critical papers in a waterproof bag or take them with you. Raise the washer, dryer, and anything in a low garage or utility room onto blocks. Even a foot of elevation saves a lot.

6. 6

   Photograph your belongings for insurance

   Before the storm, walk every room filming a video inventory of your belongings — open closets, cabinets, and drawers, and capture serial numbers on big-ticket items. Standard homeowner’s insurance usually does not cover rising floodwater, so confirm whether you have separate flood insurance now, and keep your inventory and policy backed up off-site or in the cloud.

7. 7

   Prep for the outage and move your vehicles

   Charge phones and battery packs, fill containers with drinking water, and park your cars on higher ground — a nearby garage or elevated lot — since street flooding ruins vehicles fast. Know your evacuation route. If you run a generator during the outage, only ever run it outdoors and well away from doors and windows — never in a garage, porch, or the house; generator carbon-monoxide poisoning kills Houstonians after nearly every hurricane. Once conditions turn dangerous, stop working on the house; no belonging is worth being caught in rising water.

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