Cleanup and drying after creek or flash flooding in Olathe, in Johnson County, with a crew dispatched as fast as one is available.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Creek and flash flood cleanup is the removal of floodwater, wet materials and silt from a building, followed by drying and a check for hidden moisture. In Olathe, creek floodwater from Indian, Kill, Cedar and Tomahawk Creeks is treated as Category 3 water, so porous materials are often removed rather than dried in place. Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available.
Flood water in Olathe often comes by the creek rather than from the sky alone. Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek both set records in July 2017, when the National Weather Service reported Indian Creek at State Line Road at 27.96 feet and Tomahawk Creek at Roe Avenue at 20.81 feet. Three weeks later Indian Creek passed 28 feet for the first time in its gauge record, cresting at about 28 feet after five to seven inches of rain fell in roughly six hours, locally closer to 10. Cedar Creek drains downtown Olathe's watershed and Kill Creek drains the west side, so the same kind of water can reach a house from more than one direction.
A crew working a flooded house starts by removing standing water and pulling out materials that will not dry in place, such as carpet and pad, the lower section of drywall, and sometimes subfloor. Finished basements are where most of the damage lands, because the furnace, the water heater, the panel and the floor drain are all at the bottom of the house. Technicians then use moisture meters and thermal imaging to find water behind baseboards, under cabinets and inside wall cavities, and they set air movers and dehumidifiers and re-check readings until the materials are dry. For a basement that has taken water, see our basement flooding cleanup page.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. The emergency stage, which covers water removal and drying setup, is explained and approved before work starts. Repairs after drying are quoted separately, once someone has seen the wet area. If you want the history behind the creek readings, read our Indian Creek flooding guide.
Do not walk into standing or moving water, and do not touch the electrical panel, the furnace or any outlet that sits in water. Creek floodwater carries contamination, so wear gloves and boots if you must step in, and keep children and pets away until the area is cleaned. Do not run a wet vacuum or extension cords through standing water, and do not pull out wall or ceiling materials before the crew has checked for moisture. Never mix cleaning products, especially bleach with other cleaners, because the fumes can make you sick.
This is the most common flood call in Olathe, because most houses here have poured full basements that are finished with carpet, drywall, trim and cabinetry. Water often comes in through the floor drain, the sump pit or the walls, and it reaches materials that are hard to dry in place. The crew usually removes the lowest sections of finished walls and the flooring, then dries the framing and the slab.
When surface water pools against a house, it can reach an attached garage, a walk-out level or a first-floor room with a slab or a crawl space. Garages often hold stored items and appliances that need to be moved out and checked. Where a crawl space is involved, the crew checks for moisture in the joists and the subfloor above it.
Houses near Big Bull Creek, Martin Creek and Hillsdale Lake, and farmhouses with crawl spaces, can take water quickly from a creek that rises fast. Many rural properties run on private well and septic, which changes the job. A backed-up basement there may be a failed septic field or ejector pump rather than a sewer surcharge, and the crew will say so when it sees the source.
Warehouse belts in Edgerton, Gardner and Edwardsville have large open floors, slab-on-grade construction and stored goods that can be lost to a few inches of water. Commercial jobs are scoped to the building and the contents, and the crew documents them the same way it does for a house. Access and the number of units or bays change the plan.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what creek and flash flood cleanup should cost.
Usually not. Most homeowners policies exclude flood and rising water, and flood needs its own policy. Check your policy or ask your agent before you assume anything is covered.
The Kansas Insurance Department's shopper's guide says most homeowners policies exclude water damage from flood and rising water, and from sewer backup. Flood coverage is bought separately, through FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer. Sewer backup and sump pump failure during a flood normally need an endorsement, which is a written form attached to the policy that changes its coverage.
NFIP guidance says a sewer backup caused by general flooding in the area may be covered, while one caused by clogged pipes is not. Take photos before anything is moved, stop the water if you can do it safely, and call your insurer early. If you think a claim has been handled unfairly, the Kansas Insurance Department's Consumer Assistance Division takes complaints at 1-800-432-2484.
Check FEMA's Flood Map Service Center or the Kansas Division of Water Resources statewide DFIRM viewer for your address. Johnson County's countywide floodplain mapping was adopted by FEMA on 3 August 2009, and the county planning office publishes floodplain information too.
A map answers a narrow question: whether a property sits in a designated flood zone and what the effective base flood elevation is there. It does not tell you how water will move across your lot, or whether a low spot next to a driveway will fill. Read the map, then walk the property after heavy rain and note where water collects.
The Kansas Division of Water Resources also coordinates the state's floodplain management and runs the Community Rating System programme, which is voluntary. Ask your city whether it participates and what that means for your policy. This site cannot tell you whether any particular address is in a flood zone.
Not safely in most cases. Creek floodwater is Category 3, and wet materials start to grow mold within a day or two. Small surface mold can sometimes be cleaned by a homeowner, but larger areas and mold in the HVAC system need professional help.
EPA guidance says a moldy area under about 10 square feet can usually be cleaned by the homeowner, while larger areas and mold in the HVAC system call for professional help. Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people. Kansas does not license mold remediation the way some states do, and KDHE says it does not regulate mold in homes, so the questions to ask are about process and training.
Ask any company which certifications its technicians hold and what standard it follows. IICRC, the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, is a non-government industry body that publishes ANSI/IICRC S500 for water damage and S520 for mold remediation. Crews here work to that guidance and to EPA mold guidance. Before disturbing materials in a house built before 1980, check with KDHE and the EPA.
The price is confirmed on site before any work begins. The emergency stage is explained and approved first, and repairs are quoted after drying, once someone has seen the wet area. The biggest factors are how much area is wet, the water category, the materials and how long the water sat.
A basement with water that stayed in one room is a different job from water that reached three levels. The crew looks at whether the water stayed in the basement, whether it reached the main floor, and how many rooms it touched. Finished materials, such as carpet, drywall, laminate, engineered wood and cabinetry, add removal and rebuild work, and plaster in an older house takes more care than drywall.
Access matters too. A basement with stairs only, a crawl space, a walk-out lower level or an upper-floor apartment each changes how equipment and debris move. If mold is already growing, the job may need containment. If a plumber or septic contractor must fix the source first, that work is not in our quote. Any after-hours, weekend or holiday callout is noted when it is booked.
Call Johnson County Wastewater's 24/7 emergency line at 913-715-8600 and check your address with its service-area map tool. Johnson County Wastewater runs the Backup Prevention Program, but eligibility is decided by the county, not by us.
The county's Backup Prevention Program funds eligible homeowners to install a backwater device or modify plumbing, but only after a confirmed sanitary sewer basement backup from an intense rain event whose cause was capacity in the sanitary sewer system. Check eligibility with Johnson County Wastewater. The JoCo Inflow programme targets rainwater and groundwater entering private connections at no cost to the homeowner.
The sewer lateral from your house to the public system is usually the property owner's responsibility, so ask the county which part of the line is yours. This site has no connection to Johnson County Wastewater or its programmes. The crew can clean and dry the basement whatever the cause turns out to be.
Close the main shut-off if you can reach it without standing in water, and keep out of standing water near the electrical panel, the furnace or a basement outlet. Creek floodwater is treated as Category 3, so keep children and pets out of the area until the crew has cleaned it. The crew makes the same check when it arrives before it enters the room.
Extraction comes first, because every hour the water sits adds to the damage. The crew removes what it can from the floor and pulls up carpet, pad and any material that holds water and cannot be dried where it sits. Furniture, boxes and stored items are moved out, and their condition is recorded before they are handled.
Water travels behind finished walls and under flooring, so visible damage is only part of the job. Technicians use moisture meters and thermal imaging to map wet areas, including wall cavities, the space under cabinets and the rim joist. The readings set the drying plan and show when the work is finished.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are placed to move air across wet surfaces. EPA guidance is to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours, and mold can start on wood, drywall, carpet and furniture left wet for more than 24 hours. The crew re-checks readings each day and keeps the equipment running until the materials are dry.
The crew can give you photos and moisture readings to share with your insurer. Coverage is decided by your insurer under your own policy. Repairs after drying are quoted separately, and any pipe, water heater or roof work goes to a licensed trade such as a licensed plumber or a roofer registered with the Kansas Attorney General.
Olathe's flood risk is written into its creeks. Cedar Creek takes in the runoff from downtown Olathe and Lake Olathe before it reaches the Kansas River, and Kill Creek drains the west side of town. In a heavy storm, water can rise in both at once, which is why the crew checks every low wall and floor drain in the house instead of only the room where you saw water.
The 2017 events set the local benchmark. Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek both hit record levels in July, and Indian Creek came back above 28 feet in August after rain of five to seven inches in six hours. Johnson County's Stormwater Management Program has funded watershed projects in Olathe and Merriam, and it runs a rain and stream gauge network with a sensor on Indian Creek. For the local record, see the Olathe area page.
The clay under most of the county changes how water behaves after a flood. The Grundy soils mapped here are smectitic clays, which shrink in a dry August and swell in a wet spring, and their low permeability means water stands against a foundation instead of draining away. A perched saturated zone can form within a metre of the surface in the wettest years, so a basement that was dry all summer can still flood in a wet March. Along the Kaw valley, the 1951 Kansas River flood, when the river topped the Argentine and Armourdale levees and forced 15,000 people out, is the reminder that low ground behind levees still carries risk.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
Extraction, drying and moisture checks for Olathe basements, floor drains and clay-soil leaks, with a crew dispatched as fast as one is available.
Standing water pumped out of a Johnson County home so drying can start before mold has time to grow.
Water cleanup for finished and unfinished basements in Olathe and Johnson County, from extraction through drying.
Sewage backup cleanup in Olathe, KS: removing contaminated water, drying the basement and cleaning floor drains and finished materials.
Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek run northeast through Overland Park and Leawood, and both set records in July 2017.
A standard Kansas homeowners policy generally responds to sudden and accidental water damage, such as a burst supply line.
No. The crew can document the damage for your claim, including photos and moisture readings, and coverage is decided by your insurer under your own policy. Ask your agent what your policy covers before the work starts. You remain responsible for the emergency stage, which is explained and approved before work begins.
Phones are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. We do not promise an arrival time, because conditions on the roads and across the county change during a storm. Meanwhile, close the main shut-off if you can reach it safely and keep clear of standing water.
Not always. The Kansas Insurance Department says many policies do not cover sump pump failure or severe backup caused by flooding, and that this coverage normally requires an endorsement. Flood coverage itself is a separate policy through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private insurer. Check your policy or ask your agent.
Often not. Carpet and pad that have taken creek floodwater usually cannot be dried in place, and the crew removes them when it cannot get them dry. The crew makes that call on site after checking moisture under the pad and on the subfloor. You will be told what is being removed before it is taken out.
It can be. Mold can trigger allergy and asthma symptoms in some people, and it can grow on wood, drywall, carpet and furniture left wet for more than 24 hours. If you have asthma or allergies, keep out of affected rooms until the area is cleaned and dried. Ask any company which certifications its technicians hold.
If a pipe, water heater or sewer line failed, yes. Plumbing work in Johnson County must be done by a plumber licensed with Johnson County Contractor Licensing, and you can look up a company in the county's contractor search before any cutting starts. The office is at 913-715-2233. The crew can clean and dry the area after the repair.
Call Johnson County Wastewater first at 913-715-8600, the 24/7 emergency line, and use its map tool to check your address. Then call a restoration crew to clean and dry the area. Sewer backup can need separate handling, so keep the affected area closed off until both calls are made.