Removing river, creek and storm flood water, silt and ruined materials from homes near the Willamette, Columbia and Johnson Creek.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Flood water carries mud, bacteria and whatever it crossed, so it is handled as contaminated. Portland Water Damage Restoration answers 24/7 for Portland and Multnomah County. A crew is dispatched as fast as one is available, pumps the water, clears silt and ruined materials, then cleans and dries the structure to measured readings.
Portland is a river city, and the rivers have a record. In February 1996 the Willamette crested at 28.6 feet in downtown Portland, close enough to the top of the seawall that crews sandbagged it and the water stopped a few inches short of spilling over. Farther upstream the same flood put the river gauge at Oregon City at 46.04 feet. On the Columbia side, the crest at Vancouver reached 27.2 feet against a flood stage of 16, and nearly 300 Clark County homes were damaged. Floods of that scale are rare, but the pattern is not unique to 1996.
Smaller floods are more routine. Johnson Creek, a 26-mile stream draining roughly 54 square miles across Clackamas and Multnomah counties, climbed to about 15.3 feet in 2015. Fanno Creek, Beaverton Creek and the Tualatin River do their own damage on the west side during long wet spells. The common thread is that the water that gets into a house is not clean. It has crossed streets, yards, septic fields and storm drains before it reaches your floor.
That is why flood cleanup is treated differently from a leak. Porous materials that sat in flood water are normally removed, hard surfaces are cleaned and disinfected, and the structure is dried only after the silt and contamination are gone. The work is slower and more protective, and it is also the kind of loss where flood insurance, a separate policy from homeowners cover, becomes the main question.
Usually not. Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation notes that flood is a standard exclusion in homeowners policies, so flood cover is generally a separate policy. Only your insurer can say what yours does, and the decision is theirs. Photographs, a moisture log and receipts support a claim either way.
People often discover the gap after the event. A burst pipe and a rising creek can both put water in the same basement, and the policy treats them differently. Ask your agent now, not after the storm, what water is covered and what is not.
Flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program has a waiting period before it takes effect, so it cannot be bought in the middle of an event. If you live near the Willamette, Columbia or Johnson Creek, ask about a policy before the wet season starts.
The Columbia-side levee system runs about 27 miles from North Portland through Gresham, Fairview and Troutdale. According to Multnomah County, its FEMA certification has expired and accreditation could be revoked. We could not confirm its current status, so check with the county or your insurer before relying on it.
The levees were built by landowners between 1917 and 1921 and improved over time by the Army Corps of Engineers. Drainage districts maintain them. Legislative testimony and county materials from 2019 to 2023 describe the recertification question, and a lapse can change flood map status and insurance requirements for properties behind them.
That is a reason to look up your own address on the current FEMA flood map and ask about cover, not a reason to assume you are safe or at risk.
Stay out of the water, shut off electricity at the panel only if you can reach it dry, photograph the high-water line, and move people and pets out. Do not run a household vacuum on flood water or try to clean up alone. Call, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available.
Flood water can hide sharp objects, open drains and live current. Boots, gloves and a mask are the minimum if you must go in. Never walk through moving water, even if it looks shallow.
Keep your receipts and a list of what you move. If a utility asks you to evacuate, follow it.
Vancouver and Camas are in Clark County, Washington, so contractors there register with the state Department of Labor & Industries rather than Oregon's Construction Contractors Board. The Columbia flood history applies directly to low land by the river. The restoration work is the same, but the license check and some local rules differ.
Clark County Public Works records that the 1996 Columbia flood crested at 27.2 feet at Vancouver, nearly 300 homes were damaged and 82 were destroyed. Camas, upriver, has its own lower riverside land, though we have no town-specific figures to cite.
Wherever you are, ask a company for its license or registration number and check it with the right state agency before signing.
Equipment that took in flood water is not turned on until a qualified technician has inspected it. Furnaces, water heaters and electrical panels often need to be dried and tested or replaced. Those are separate trades, and the restoration crew tells you what looks wet and which specialist to call.
Gas valves, control boards and electric motors are the parts that suffer. A unit that looks dry on the outside may have water in its controls, and running it can cause a short or a fire.
If the panel was touched by water, ask an electrician to look at it before power is restored to the area. The restoration crew will not reconnect circuits.
A basement with a few inches of flood water is often cleaned in a couple of days and dried in the following week. A whole floor with silt, removed drywall and wet framing takes longer. The readings decide when drying ends, and rebuilding comes afterward.
The slow part is usually not the pumping. It is the silt, the removal of everything porous, and the time for concrete and framing to reach a dry reading.
Tell the dispatcher how deep the water got and how long it stood. Those two facts shape the plan.
Do not wade through flood water that may be moving, hold debris or reach outlets, and do not use household appliances that have been wet. Phone (833) 490-5225 and wait somewhere dry and high.
Protective gear goes on, and the technician checks electrical hazards, gas appliances and structural safety. Occupants are asked to stay clear until the area is assessed.
Water is lowered gradually, because pumping a basement too fast against saturated soil can stress walls and floors. Silt and debris are shoveled out as the water drops.
Carpet, pad, wet drywall, insulation and soaked furniture are taken out. The technician lists and photographs what is removed, which supports any claim.
Concrete, framing and other hard surfaces are cleaned of silt and treated. Heating and air-handling equipment that took in water may need a specialist.
Dehumidifiers and air movers run until readings match a dry reference. Logs and photographs go to you for the insurer.
The Willamette and Columbia rise slowly and fall slowly, which gives warning but can keep water in a house for days. The Columbia-side levees, about 27 miles from North Portland through Gresham and Fairview to Troutdale, were built by landowners from 1917 to 1921 and later improved by the Army Corps.
Johnson Creek, Fanno Creek and other streams rise quickly in heavy rain and drop quickly after. Damage tends to be concentrated on lots beside the channel. See basement water damage for water that arrives from the ground instead.
When drains cannot keep up, water pools in low spots and finds doorways. It is not river water, but it is still street runoff and treated with care. See storm damage restoration.
Flood cleanup costs more per square foot than clean-water drying because of protective handling, removal and disinfecting. We print no dollar range, since none we could source describes a Portland job.
| Job | Typical range | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Depth and area of flooding | Measured on site | Pumping time, silt removal and material loss rise with water depth |
| Silt and debris | Quoted on site | Shoveling, hauling and washing add labor |
| Materials removed | Varies | Carpet, pad, drywall and insulation are normally discarded |
| Mechanical systems | Separate trade | Furnaces, water heaters and panels that took in water are assessed by the right specialist |
Your price is confirmed on site, and put in writing, before work begins.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent flood damage cleanup, send the form and we'll call you back.
The February 1996 flood remains the benchmark for the metro area. It crested the Willamette at 28.6 feet in Portland and pushed the river far above its banks at Oregon City and Gladstone. Reports from that season, tied to the state geology agency, count more than 700 landslides in Portland alone, a reminder that wet ground and flooding arrive together.
Johnson Creek's flood history is local and specific. The creek rises in Clackamas County, flows through Gresham, Happy Valley, Portland and Milwaukie, and meets the Willamette at Milwaukie. Creekside lots, and some low riverside streets in Milwaukie, are the ones where owners ask about flood cover.
West of the city, Fanno Creek recorded a gauge peak of 733 cubic feet per second on February 8, 1996, and a nearby school reported its worst flooding in January 2017. Beaverton, Tigard and Tualatin all have lots near creek and river channels.
A flood in the metro area is rarely only one thing. In low riverside spots, rising ground water can come up through a basement floor while the storm drains also back up. A technician reads the water and the pattern on the walls before deciding how to work.
Handling sewage that has come up through a floor drain or toilet in a Portland house, including the question of city versus owner responsibility.
Water removal and drying for Portland basements, from slow wall seepage to a drain that has backed up into a finished lower level.
Water cleanup and drying after winter storms push rain through roofs, walls and windows or drop limbs on Portland houses.
How mold is removed from Portland homes after water damage, and why fixing the moisture matters as much as the cleaning.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Responsibility depends on where the blockage is.
Oregon issues a Residential Restoration Contractor endorsement through the Construction Contractors Board, and seven other endorsements also allow restoration work.
The Portland area has a real flood record: the Willamette crested at 28.6 feet in Portland in February 1996, Johnson Creek reached about 15.3 feet in 2015, and the Columbia-side levees have an open certification question.
No. Cleanup can begin whether or not you hold a policy. Insurance only affects who pays and how a claim is handled, which is your insurer's decision.
When contaminated materials are out, surfaces have been cleaned and the readings show the structure dry. That is often days to a couple of weeks for a basement, longer for a whole floor. Ask the technician for the readings.
Solid wood and metal pieces can often be cleaned. Upholstery, mattresses and particleboard furniture that sat in flood water are usually discarded. The technician will tell you what they see.
Often it is worth having the dried structure checked, particularly after a flood. See mold inspection and testing for how that works.
Do not run it. Have a qualified technician inspect and, if needed, replace it. Those repairs are separate trades.