Flood Damage Restoration in Georgia: Cleanup, Claims and Who to Call

Floodwater reaches a Georgia house in more than one way. On the coast it is tide pushed inland by a tropical system. In the east and south of the state it is a river that has left its banks after a foot of rain, and around Atlanta it is often a creek that rose overnight. In March 2026 the director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) called flooding one of the most frequent and costly natural hazards in Georgia.

GA Water Damage is a free referral service that connects callers with independent local flood restoration providers. It is not a contractor and does none of the work itself. Call the number on this page and you are put through to a local restoration provider, who handles the inspection, the estimate and the job.

A flood leaves an owner with two problems at once: contaminated water in the structure, and a claim that usually does not run through the ordinary homeowners policy. This page takes them in order. It starts with safety, then the insurance and federal aid side, then how Georgia floods region by region, and then what flood cleanup involves. For leaks, storms and every other kind of loss, start with water damage restoration in Georgia.

Before you go back inside

Going back into a flooded house carries hazards of its own, from live wiring to weakened floors. The steps below come from the National Weather Service, the CDC, the EPA and the joint federal guide to mold cleanup after disasters. In a life-threatening situation, dial 911.

1. Wait for the all clear. The National Weather Service says not to enter a flood-damaged building until authorities say it is safe. The joint federal mold guide adds that a flooded home should not be re-entered until professionals say it is free of structural, electrical and other hazards.
2. Look up and down before you step in. The same guide tells people to check for sagging ceilings or floors and other structural problems, and to watch for wet, muddy or slippery floors.
3. Deal with the power from a dry place only. The CDC says to switch off the main power only if the panel can be reached from a dry place. If getting to it means stepping into standing water, call an electrician to turn it off. Never switch power on or off, or use an electric tool or appliance, while standing in water.
4. Leave if you smell gas. CDC guidance for a gas smell or a suspected leak is to close the main gas valve, open the windows and get out of the house at once.
5. Air the house. A house that has been closed up for several days after flooding should be opened and left to air for at least 30 minutes before anyone stays inside.
6. Dress for dirty water. The CDC says anyone who has to enter floodwater should wear rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles. The EPA adds that children and pets are kept away from flood water.
7. Photograph everything before cleanup. Take pictures and video of every room and every damaged item, then contact your insurance company. The federal guide puts this ahead of any cleaning.

How the free call works

The call costs nothing. It is routed to a participating restoration provider that serves your part of Georgia, where one is available, and from there the conversation is between you and that provider. The provider looks at the damage, decides what the job involves and gives you the price. GA Water Damage sets no prices and does not supervise or guarantee the work.

Every provider is an independent business, so checking that the one you hire carries the license and insurance the job requires is the owner’s responsibility. A later section of this page shows how to do that in Georgia. The service is open to homes and to businesses, and the about GA Water Damage page sets out the arrangement in full.

Flood damage and water damage are not the same claim

The Insurance Information Institute gives a rule of thumb that explains most of what follows. Water that comes from the top down, such as rainfall or a burst sprinkler, is generally covered by a standard homeowners policy. Water that rises from the ground up is a matter for a flood policy.

The policy wording backs that up. The sample HO-3 homeowners form published by the Institute defines its water damage exclusion in three parts: flood and surface water; water that backs up through sewers or drains or overflows from a sump; and water below ground that seeps or leaks through a foundation. A real policy can differ from the sample, so the copy in your own file is the one that counts.

Georgia’s own agencies say the same thing in plainer words. The Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire states that a standard homeowners policy covers damage from high winds and tornadoes but not from flooding, and that flood cover is a separate policy bought through the National Flood Insurance Program. GEMA/HS warns that many homeowner’s policies do not cover floods.

Where the water came from	Where the claim usually goes	Who says so
A burst supply line or an appliance overflow	Homeowners policy, when the discharge is sudden and accidental	NAIC and the sample HO-3 form
Rain coming in from above	Generally the homeowners policy	Insurance Information Institute
A river, creek, tide or surface water rising into the house	A separate flood policy	Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance
Sewage backing up through a drain	Neither a typical homeowners policy nor flood insurance; the cover is bought separately or as an endorsement	Insurance Information Institute
Groundwater seeping through the foundation	Excluded under the sample HO-3 form; ask your agent what applies	Sample HO-3 form

The table is a guide to where a claim starts, not a ruling on any claim. Only the insurer decides what a policy pays. For pipe and appliance losses, which follow the homeowners route, see burst pipe water damage in Georgia.

Flood insurance in Georgia

The flood policy that Georgia’s insurance office points homeowners to is the one sold under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). FEMA runs the program and sets its rates and coverage, and the policies are sold and serviced by approximately 50 participating insurance companies and through NFIP Direct. Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) reports 584 communities taking part across all 159 counties, which it puts at 89 percent of the Georgia communities with mapped Special Flood Hazard Areas.

The 30-day wait

An NFIP policy takes effect 30 days after the date of purchase, a point GEMA/HS made in its March 2026 flood safety release. The practical meaning is that a policy bought when a storm is already in the forecast will usually not be in force when the water arrives. FEMA lists two exceptions on its page about buying a flood policy: the wait does not apply when the insurance is bought while making, increasing, extending or renewing a mortgage, and it is one day when a property has been newly mapped into a high-risk flood zone and the policy is bought within 12 months of the map change.

What the policy pays for and what it leaves out

NFIP limits for a home are $250,000 for the building and $100,000 for contents, and the two are bought as separate coverages. An owner who insured only the building has no contents cover. The gaps matter as much as the limits.

• Mold. NFIP policies do not cover damage from mold, so the policyholder is expected to do everything possible to stop it growing and spreading.
• Somewhere to stay. The policy does not pay for temporary housing or additional living expenses while the home is repaired.
• Basement belongings. Personal property kept in a basement is not covered.
• Sewer backup. The Insurance Information Institute says a sewer backup is not covered by flood insurance or by a typical homeowners policy.

What Helene showed

On May 6, 2025 FEMA reported that it had paid more than $26.3 million in flood insurance claims to more than 460 policyholders in Georgia after Hurricane Helene. The same release says more than $549 million in federal assistance and low-interest loans had gone to more than 399,300 Georgia households. The two figures measure different things, and FEMA gives no statewide percentage of homes with flood cover. Set side by side, they show how many more households drew on disaster aid than on a flood policy.

What a flood claim needs

Georgia’s insurance office tells policyholders to contact their agent or insurer immediately after a loss and to protect the property from further damage. For the flood claim itself, FEMA asks for specific evidence.

• Photos and video of the damaged property, taken before anything is removed.
• The make, model and serial number of damaged appliances and electronics.
• Samples of damaged carpet, flooring and curtains. FEMA says items that pose a health risk can be thrown away once they are documented.
• Receipts for what you spend and an inventory of damaged items for the adjuster, which is the Insurance Information Institute’s general advice for any property claim.

Owners often ask whether they must leave everything in place until the adjuster arrives. The flood cleanup guide that the Georgia Department of Public Health links to says to contact the insurer at once and photograph the damage, but not to wait for the adjuster before removing wet and moldy materials. Photograph first, keep the samples, then let the wet material go. If a dispute with an insurer cannot be settled, the Consumer Services Division of the Office of Commissioner of Insurance takes complaints from policyholders.

How Georgia floods, region by region

NOAA’s state climate summary puts annual precipitation at more than 70 inches in the mountainous northeast corner of Georgia and around 45 inches in the southeastern and central parts of the state. It describes thunderstorms as common and says they often bring heavy rain that can cause severe flooding. It also reports that the number of 3-inch rain events in Georgia varies from period to period but reached its highest level in 2015 to 2020.

The coast

On the coast the flood is the sea. During Hurricane Matthew the storm tide at Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, reached 12.56 feet above mean lower low water early on October 8, 2016, the highest level recorded there up to that date. Tropical Storm Irma brought 12.24 feet on September 11, 2017, at the time the second highest on record. The city detail is on the page about water damage in Savannah, GA.

East Georgia

Hurricane Helene, in late September 2024, was an inland rain and river event as much as a wind event. The National Weather Service’s report lists storm rainfall of 12.37 inches near Evans and 12.02 inches at Fort Gordon, both in the Augusta area. The agency’s Columbia office says nearly all river forecast points across the South Carolina Midlands and the Central Savannah River Area reached major flood stage afterward.

Central and southwest Georgia

The benchmark here is Tropical Storm Alberto. GEMA/HS records that the storm stalled over Georgia on July 4, 1994. Georgia’s record for rain in 24 hours, 21.10 inches, was set at Americus on July 6, and University of Georgia Extension’s account says the rain devastated Macon, Montezuma, Albany and other parts of central and southwest Georgia. GEMA/HS’s disaster history counts thirty-four people killed and more than 50,000 displaced from their homes.

South Georgia

Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend on August 30, 2023 and its weakening core tracked across southeast Georgia. The heaviest measured rain in that part of the state was 8.19 inches at Baxley and 7.93 inches at Bacon County Airport. The National Weather Service office in Tallahassee reported many water rescues in Valdosta.

Metro Atlanta and north Georgia

The September 2009 floods are the reference point for the north of the state. At their height, on September 20 and 21, an estimated 10 to 20 inches of rain fell in under 24 hours, and 28 new record crests were set. Across Georgia, more than 20,000 homes, businesses and other buildings took major damage, 16,981 of them residences. The U.S. Geological Survey put the odds of that flooding in parts of Cobb and Douglas counties at less than 1 in 500 in any given year.

The Chattahoochee at Columbus

Not every Georgia flood is a once-in-a-lifetime storm. The National Weather Service gauge on the Chattahoochee at Columbus crested above its 27-foot flood stage at least once in every year from 2018 to 2025. Each of those crests stayed in the minor category. What each stage puts under water is set out on the page about water damage restoration in Columbus, GA.

Hurricane water damage in Georgia

NOAA’s summary says hurricanes rarely make direct landfall in Georgia, but the remnants of tropical systems bring heavy rain and strong wind to the state. It notes that rain from the remnants of Frances, Ivan and Jeanne produced Georgia’s wettest September on record in 2004. Direct hits do happen: the National Weather Service calls Hurricane Michael, in October 2018, the first major hurricane to hit Georgia directly since the 1890s. Its eye crossed into Seminole County still at Category 3 strength.

Helene is the most recent large example. Georgia Power calls it the most destructive hurricane in the company’s 140-year history and says it restored 1.5 million customer outages afterward. A long outage matters to a wet house, because pumps, fans and dehumidifiers all need electricity.

Wind-driven rain or rising water

A hurricane can damage one house in two ways, and the two can land on different policies. Rain that enters through a roof or a window the wind has broken comes from the top down. Water that rises across the yard and through the door is flood. Georgia’s insurance office says a standard homeowners policy covers high wind damage but not flooding.

An owner with both kinds of damage may therefore be dealing with two claims. Keep the photographs of each kind separate, and tell each insurer which damage came from which cause.

The two also differ in how dirty the water is taken to be. On March 16, 2026 the body that maintains the trade’s water damage standard, the IICRC S500, issued a position statement that rain driven in from above and other weather-related water is not Category 3 by default. The category has to be based on the conditions actually found at the loss. Rising river or tide water is a different matter, covered below under what is in floodwater.

After the storm: offers at the door

The Georgia Attorney General’s storm alerts tell homeowners to avoid door-to-door offers of repair work and to ask friends and neighbors for referrals instead. The same alerts warn against any contractor who asks for full payment up front, takes only cash or refuses to give a written contract, and say an offer to pay your insurance deductible can be the sign of a scam.

Georgia’s price gouging law applies during a state of emergency declared by the Governor, and only to the goods and services the Governor identifies. The fine is $2,000 to $15,000 per violation. The Governor’s executive order for Helene invoked the statute for goods and services needed for preparation, response and recovery.

What is in floodwater

Floodwater is not rainwater by the time it reaches a living room. The CDC lists what it can carry: human and livestock waste, household, medical and industrial hazardous waste, coal ash, and downed power lines. The illnesses and injuries the agency links to exposure are wound infections, skin rash, gastrointestinal illness and tetanus.

The restoration trade sorts water into three categories by contamination. Category 3, the worst, is grossly contaminated water that can cause severe adverse health effects if touched or swallowed. General summaries of the standard list sewage, seawater and rising water from rivers or streams as typical Category 3 sources. That is why a flooded house is handled so differently from one soaked by a clean supply line.

• No fans in a sewage-contaminated house. The flood cleanup guide linked by Georgia DPH warns that moving air can spread germs to other rooms. The EPA’s instruction is not to set up fans until the water is known to be clean.
• Wash every cut. The EPA says any cut or scrape that touches flood water or sewage should be washed and disinfected immediately.
• Wash clothes hot. The CDC says clothes soiled by flood or sewage water are washed in hot water and detergent.
• Keep children out of the cleanup. Federal guidance says children should not take part, and people with asthma or weakened immune systems should stay out of moldy spaces.

The EPA’s advice when damage came from sewage or other contaminated water is to bring in a professional with experience in that kind of building, not to treat it as a household job. It is reasonable to ask the provider you are connected with how it handles contaminated water before work starts.

What flood cleanup involves

What follows is what public guidance describes and what restoration providers generally do after a flood. It is not a promise about any one job, because the provider you are connected with sets the scope after seeing the building. The drying stage is explained in more depth on the page about water mitigation in Georgia.

Pumping out, slowly

A flooded basement must not be emptied fast. FEMA warns that groundwater pressing on the outside can crack the floor and collapse the walls. Its test is to mark the wall, lower the water one foot, wait 24 hours, and go on only if the level has not come back up. Once the level holds, FEMA’s rate is two to three feet of water every 24 hours.

Taking out what cannot be cleaned

The flood cleanup guide linked by Georgia DPH is direct: drywall that has been under water has to come out. Where the water or mold damage is less than four feet up the wall, the guide says it may be cheaper to remove the drywall only up to the four-foot line, which is the height of one sheet laid on its side. The CDC says drywall and insulation contaminated by floodwater are removed and discarded, not dried in place.

Age adds a caution. The EPA warns that older homes may contain asbestos or lead in their building materials, which matters before anyone tears out walls, ceilings or flooring. It is a fair question to put to a provider before demolition starts in an older house.

Cleaning first, then disinfecting

Mud and silt have to come off before a disinfectant can do anything. The CDC’s cleaning step is to wash every wet item and surface with hot water and laundry or dish detergent, and FEMA’s brochure says disinfectants are meant for surfaces that have already been cleaned. The CDC’s bleach mix for hard surfaces is one cup of household bleach in one gallon of water, and FEMA says the solution should stay on the surface for at least 10 minutes. Never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners, because the fumes are toxic.

Drying to a target, not a date

Drying is finished when the readings say so. Trade practice is to set a dry standard for each material and dry until moisture readings reach it, and the guide linked by Georgia DPH treats wood studs and framing as dry once their moisture content is below 15 percent. Closing a wall over framing wetter than that traps the moisture inside.

Two points catch owners out. The same guide says a flooded crawl space has to be opened to air, with openings at opposite ends, for the house to dry. And the EPA says a heating and cooling system touched by flood water must not be used to help dry the house, while FEMA says the furnace is used only if the ducts were not inundated.

What can be saved and what cannot

The federal rule of thumb for flood-wet belongings is short: anything that cannot be cleaned and completely dried within 24 to 48 hours is thrown away. The EPA’s better-known table of what can be dried and kept applies only to clean water and does not apply when the source is sewage or polluted water. After a flood the stricter lists below are the ones to follow.

Item	Usual outcome after floodwater	Source
Mattresses, pillows, upholstered furniture	Discard; the CDC lists them among items that cannot be cleaned or dried quickly	CDC
Carpet, carpet padding and rugs	Discard if they cannot be thoroughly cleaned and dried	CDC and EPA
Books and wall coverings	Discard if they cannot be cleaned and dried quickly	CDC
Drywall that was under water	Remove	Guide linked by Georgia DPH
Wet insulation	Remove; only rigid insulation can be disinfected, dried and put back	FEMA
Furniture made of pressed particle material	Porous; when in doubt, throw it out	FEMA
Solid wood furniture	Listed with the washable hard surfaces	FEMA
Hard, non-porous surfaces	Clean with detergent, then disinfect	CDC and FEMA

Wood framing and masonry are normally cleaned and dried in place instead of being replaced, which is why the 15 percent figure above matters. When the rebuild starts, FEMA recommends water-resistant materials in flood-prone areas, such as tile, stone, sealed concrete, galvanized or stainless hardware and waterproof wallboard.

Mold after a flood

Georgia’s humidity gives a wet house very little time. The EPA says water-damaged areas and items need to be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth, and the Georgia Department of Public Health gives the same window for cleaning, drying or removing anything water damaged. The guide DPH links to goes further: if a building’s interior was under water or wet for more than 48 hours, assume it is seriously contaminated with mold.

Size decides who should do the work. Georgia DPH says a patch of surface mold smaller than 3 feet by 3 feet on materials such as hard plastic, tile or wood can usually be cleaned by the homeowner, and that a professional should be consulted for larger areas. The flood guide reports that the EPA and CDC recommend trained mold remediation professionals when mold covers more than 100 square feet.

Since an NFIP policy does not pay for mold, speed here protects the owner’s own money. The full subject is on the page about mold remediation in Georgia.

How long it takes and what it costs

Published figures give a range and nothing more. FEMA’s brochure says a wet or contaminated area usually takes two to three days to dry completely, and that rebuilding should wait until then. HomeAdvisor’s cost guide, updated June 17, 2026, says a water-damaged home takes around five days to dry, depending on the damage. A flooded basement adds FEMA’s pumping pace on top, and the rebuild runs on its own schedule of materials, permits and insurance approvals.

The only cost figures on this page are HomeAdvisor’s national estimates from that same guide. They are not prices from GA Water Damage, which sets none, and they are not a quote from any provider.

HomeAdvisor national estimate, updated June 17, 2026	Figure
Cleanup of black water, per square foot	About $7.50
Cleanup of grey water, per square foot	About $5.25
Cleanup of clean water, per square foot	About $3.50
Average water damage restoration job	$3,868
What most homeowners pay	$1,383 to $6,369
Full national range	$450 to $16,000
Drywall repair, priced separately	About $300 to $850

HomeAdvisor prices black water highest of the three categories and gives its reason: everything porous the water reaches, including upholstered furniture, beds, carpeting, clothing and porous building materials, takes up contaminants. The firm number for a specific house comes from the provider’s written estimate after an inspection.

FEMA help, flood maps and permits

Federal disaster assistance

Federal help for households follows a disaster declaration, and each declaration covers a defined incident period. Helene is the worked example. FEMA’s Georgia disaster for that storm, DR-4830-GA, was declared on September 30, 2024, with an incident period of September 24 to October 30, 2024.

GEMA/HS is the state agency that coordinates Georgia’s preparedness, response and recovery for disasters. Whether a household qualifies for federal help is FEMA’s decision, and nothing on this page can settle it.

Looking up a flood zone

The State of Georgia, through EPD’s floodplain management program, is responsible for developing and updating the state’s flood hazard maps. Property owners can pull a flood risk snapshot for a specific property at georgiadfirm.com, which EPD’s floodplain management page points to. The same page explains the mortgage rule: owners in a Special Flood Hazard Area in a participating community must buy flood insurance if their loan comes from a federally regulated or insured lender.

Permits for the repair stage

Repair permits are a city or county matter in Georgia, so the building department where the house stands is the office to ask. Flood repairs can also trigger a local substantial-damage rule. Savannah’s is an example: for a house built before May 21, 1971 that sits below the Base Flood Elevation plus the required freeboard, if repair or renovation costs added up over five years exceed 50 percent of the current fair market value of the structure alone, the structure must be brought into compliance with the City’s flood damage rules. Other communities write their own versions.

One more point from the state’s Residential and General Contractors Board: it warns homeowners against pulling their own building permit for a job a contractor will do, because whoever obtains the permit takes on most of the liability. Ask the provider who will obtain the permit before any repair work begins.

Checking the provider you are connected with

None of the state sources reviewed for this page names a Georgia license or certification specific to water damage restoration companies. What the state does license is the general or residential contracting, plumbing, electrical and conditioned-air work that a flood repair can include. The Attorney General’s consumer site gives the steps for a contractor license check: go to sos.ga.gov, choose Licensing, click Licensee Search, open the Building & Contractors tab and select Residential and General Contractors.

• Ask for proof of general liability insurance, and check that the name on it matches the licensed person or business.
• Get a written contract that sets out the work, the materials, the final clean-up, a completion date and a payment schedule.
• Never pay the whole cost of a project before the work is complete.
• Treat short-time-only offers, no verifiable business address and pressure to pay more than half up front as warning signs.

Those four points come from the Residential and General Contractors Board’s tips for consumers. If something goes wrong, the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division takes complaints, though it does not judge individual disputes and cannot force a business to pay a refund. Many participating providers take emergency flood cleanup calls at night and on weekends, subject to the availability notice in the footer of this site.

Georgia cities and related pages

Each city page on this site carries the local flood record that a statewide page cannot hold. One fact from each shows the range.

• Water damage in Savannah, GA: the Fort Pulaski tide gauge, where Matthew set the record in 2016.
• Water damage restoration in Columbus, GA: the Chattahoochee above flood stage in every year from 2018 to 2025.
• Water damage in Athens, GA: the Middle Oconee River, which peaked at 19.68 feet at the gauge near Athens on April 20, 2019.
• Water damage restoration in Alpharetta, GA: Big Creek, with a 7-foot flood stage, reached 10.77 feet during Helene.
• Water damage restoration in Roswell, GA: the same creek downstream, where the Roswell gauge, with an annual peak record that starts in 2004, logged its highest peak, 15.24 feet, in September 2009.
• Water damage restoration in Decatur, GA: the South Fork of Peachtree Creek, whose gauge set its highest peak on record during Helene.
• Water damage restoration in Sandy Springs, GA: the Chattahoochee river corridor, which takes in properties within 2,000 feet of the banks.
• Water damage restoration in Duluth, GA: a Class 7 rating in the Community Rating System, which the City says makes residents eligible for a 15 percent discount on new or renewed flood insurance policies.

Three other pages cover the neighboring subjects. Emergency drying after any kind of loss is on the water mitigation in Georgia page, pipe failures are on the page about burst pipe water damage in Georgia, and growth that follows a wet week is on the page about mold remediation in Georgia.

Questions people ask