Edouard came ashore near Johnson Bayou, Louisiana on August 31, 2026 as a 60 mph tropical storm, then stalled its rain over Southeast Texas for two more days. Between Kountze and Warren, rain totals reached about 20 inches. Parts of Hardin and Tyler counties picked up 10 to 21 inches; Polk County took more than a foot in 24 hours, and more than two feet fell over the Little Pine Island Bayou watershed. Flash flood emergencies were issued for Tyler and Hardin counties, more than 81,000 Texas customers lost power, and Hardin and Polk counties declared local disasters. If water got into your home, here's the honest version of what comes next: find every wet material, dry it completely, document it, and don't sign a big remediation contract while you're still wet and stressed. Plenty of homes here need far less work than the first quote suggests.
This wasn't water that came and went in an hour. Rain fell for the better part of three days on ground that couldn't take any more of it, and slow water goes deeper: into the bottom of studs, into batt insulation, under vinyl plank, into the underside of a pier-and-beam floor. That's why the honest advice here is different from a quick creek rise. Hard surfaces — concrete slab, tile, solid wood, framing — can almost always be cleaned and dried in place. Carpet padding, soaked batt insulation, particleboard cabinet bases, and drywall that sat wet for days usually come out. The line most Southeast Texas contractors work to is opening the wall roughly a foot above where the water stopped, so the cavity dries, rather than gutting a room floor to ceiling. If somebody quotes you a full-height tear-out in a room where the water was ankle deep, ask to see the moisture readings behind that number. And if your septic system went under — common in the rural stretches of Hardin, Tyler and Polk counties — treat anything porous the water touched as a throw-away rather than something to salvage, and clean hard surfaces before you dry them.
If you're reading this at day seven or ten, you're past prevention and into detection, and that's still worth doing well. Mold can start on damp material inside 24 to 48 hours, so the question now isn't whether anything started — it's what's still wet enough to keep going. Walk the house with your nose and your hands: a sour, earthy smell in a closed room, a cool damp spot low on a wall, cupping or lifting flooring, or paint and baseboards pulling away all point to moisture that hasn't left. A cheap moisture meter (around $30) will tell you more than a test kit will at this stage, because the fix is the same either way — dry it. Keep the dehumidifier running until readings actually come down, not for a day. Our cost guide shows what fair prices look like when the job does need a pro, and our signs guide covers what's worth worrying about and what isn't.
Texas treats flood damage differently from a broken pipe, and it's worth knowing which rules you're under. Texas Property Code § 92.052 generally requires a landlord to repair conditions that materially affect health or safety after written notice. But § 92.054 carves out damage from a casualty — a flood nobody caused — and changes the remedy: if the home is totally unusable you may be able to end the lease and seek a refund of prepaid rent and your deposit, and if it's partially unusable you may be able to seek a rent reduction through the courts. Either way: give written notice today, keep the dated photos from step 4, and keep copies. Our renters guide covers how to write that notice.
Standing water you can't remove, sewage or septic backup, a large soaked area, or water inside walls and ceilings you can't get air into. Acting fast is almost always cheaper than the damage that follows.
Water got in, you've removed it, and drying is underway. Watch for musty smells and damp spots over the next two weeks, and test only if a question remains.
A small amount of water, dried within a day or two, on hard non-porous surfaces. Keep it dry and ventilated — you very likely don't need to spend a dime.
After a widely covered flood, door-knockers and urgent phone pitches follow. Some are fine; some are not. The honest rule: no reputable company needs you to sign tonight. Be especially careful with anything that assigns your insurance benefits over to a contractor — read what you're signing, and don't sign it on a porch. Get the water out, take your photos, and compare at least two quotes for anything over a few hundred dollars. Our cost guide shows what mold and water-damage work typically costs, so you can spot a scare-quote when you see one.
It depends on how the water got in. Standard homeowners policies generally exclude rising surface water; that's a separate flood policy, usually NFIP, and many homes outside the mapped floodplain in Hardin, Tyler and Polk counties don't carry one, so don't assume either way. Sewer and drain backup is usually its own rider. Wind-driven rain through a damaged roof is a different question again, and often is covered. On government help: Hardin and Polk counties declared local disasters for this event, and Texas received a federal major disaster declaration on September 1, 2026 — but that declaration (FEMA-4935-DR) was for public assistance only and covered the July storms, not Edouard. As of this writing there was no individual assistance decision for Edouard's damage. Report your damage to your county emergency management office and complete the state's iSTAT damage survey when your county posts it — those reports are exactly how counties build the case for assistance. Check DisasterAssistance.gov for the current status in your county. Your insurer makes the coverage call, not us — call them early and ask directly.
No, but the job changes. Mold can start on damp materials within about 24 to 48 hours, so a week out you're no longer preventing it — you're finding it and drying out what's still wet. Open up wall cavities and cabinet bases that held water, keep air moving, and run a dehumidifier until materials read dry, not just feel dry. Anything still damp at day seven will keep going until it's dried.
Not necessarily, and not higher than the water went. The common approach is to open the wall about a foot above the visible water line so the cavity and insulation can dry, rather than removing drywall floor to ceiling. If a contractor proposes a full-height gut in rooms where the water was ankle deep, ask them to show you the moisture readings that justify it, and get a second quote.
Texas treats flood damage differently from ordinary repairs. Under Texas Property Code § 92.052 a landlord generally must repair conditions that materially affect health or safety, but § 92.054 carves out damage from a casualty such as a flood that is nobody's fault. In that case, if the home is totally unusable you may be able to end the lease and seek a refund of prepaid rent and deposit; if it's partially unusable you may be able to seek a rent reduction through the courts. Give written notice, keep dated photos, and keep copies of everything. More in our renters guide.
Get an honest read before you spend anything. The free AI Mold Advisor will tell you if this is a dry-it-yourself situation — a lot of storm cleanups are.
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