File a flood insurance claim and meet the proof-of-loss deadline

  1. Photograph and video every flooded room
    1 hour

    This step produces a dated, organized photo and video set of every flooded room, taken before anything is moved, dried, or repaired. The tricky part is time: water marks fade within hours as drywall wicks and dries, so the peak of the flood is visible only now — the adjuster arrives later, after the evidence has already changed.

    1. Charge the phone or camera and set its date and time to today.
    2. Walk the house in a fixed order — upstairs down, or front to back — and shoot each flooded room before touching anything.
    3. In every room take wide shots of all four walls, the floor, baseboards, doors, and ceiling; close-ups of damaged appliances with brand, model, and serial number; and the contents as they stand.
    4. Stand a ruler or tape measure upright on the floor against at least one wall in each room, so the water line sits against the markings, and photograph it.
    5. Lay a paper card with the room, date, and time in every frame, or say them aloud in each video.
    6. Pan each room slowly in video — floor, walls, ceiling — narrating what you see.
    7. Upload the whole set to a cloud drive or email it to yourself the same day, then confirm the copies open.