If you live in Gunter, you already know how fast a North Texas summer storm can turn. Blue skies one minute, hail rattling the gutters and rain coming in sideways the next. And when that storm finds its way into your home — through a roof leak, a window, or water backing up somewhere it shouldn’t — what you do in the first 24 hours matters more than almost anything else that follows.
I want to walk you through exactly what those first hours should look like. Not to scare you, just to make sure you’re not standing in your living room at 11pm wondering what to do next.
First: Make Sure Everyone’s Safe
Before anything else, safety comes first.
- If there’s standing water anywhere near outlets, switches, or your electrical panel, stay out of that area and shut off power to it if you can do so safely.
- Watch for sagging ceilings — that’s often a sign water has pooled above and the structure is under real stress. Stay clear of that room until it’s checked out.
- If the storm caused roof or structural damage, don’t go up on the roof yourself. That’s not a first-24-hours job, that’s a call-a-professional job.
Once you know everyone’s safe, then it’s time to think about the water itself.
Stop the Source If You Can
If it’s a plumbing issue, shut off the water at the source. If it’s storm water coming in through a roof or window, do what you reasonably can to slow it — a tarp, a bucket, towels at the base of a door. You’re not trying to fix it permanently. You’re just trying to buy time and limit how much water spreads.
Document Before You Touch Anything
Grab your phone and take photos and video of everything — the water, the source if you can see it, any damaged belongings, the whole area. Do this before you start moving furniture or cleaning anything up.
This isn’t just good practice. It’s the single best thing you can do for your insurance claim. Adjusters want to see the damage as it happened, not after it’s already been cleaned up. A few minutes with your phone now can save real headaches later.
Get the Water Out, and Start Drying — Fast
Here’s the part that surprises a lot of homeowners: what happens on Day 1 isn’t the full fix. It’s stabilization. That means getting standing water out, applying an antimicrobial treatment to slow mold growth, and setting up equipment to start pulling moisture out of the structure itself — not just the surface.
That last part is the one people miss. Water that looks like it’s dried up on the surface can still be sitting in your drywall, subfloor, or framing. That hidden moisture is exactly where mold risk lives, and it’s why “it looks dry” and “it is dry” are two very different things.
A day or two after that initial stabilization, a full reassessment happens — checking moisture levels, mapping what’s still wet, and building the real plan from there. That rhythm exists for a reason: it gets your home stabilized fast, and it gives everyone, including your insurance company, time to catch up before bigger decisions get made.
A Word About the Equipment
Professional drying equipment is loud, and it runs for days. I won’t pretend that’s not disruptive — it is. But that equipment is doing real work you can’t see, pulling moisture out of your walls and floors, and turning it off early, even for a night, risks secondary damage that’s a lot more expensive than the noise is annoying. Put the radio on, go stay with family for an evening if you need to. Just let it run.
When to Call a Professional
If the water is more than a small spill, if it’s been sitting for more than a few hours, or if it’s come from outside (storm water, roof leaks, flooding), it’s time to call someone who does this for a living. Every hour water sits is another hour it’s working its way into places you can’t see.
Merlene Mitigation is based right here in Pilot Point, and we serve Gunter and the surrounding North Texas communities. When you call, you’re not getting handed off to a call center or a rotating crew — you’re getting Josh, one accountable local owner who scopes the job, does the water damage work himself, and brings in trusted, vetted help if anything beyond that scope is needed. Low overhead means fair prices, and nothing gets subbed out to a stranger.
Right now, we’re offering free water damage inspections through July 29th for anyone in the area who wants a second set of eyes on storm damage — no pressure, no obligation, just an honest look.
If you’re dealing with water damage in Gunter today, give us a call. And if you’re not in the middle of an emergency but want to be ready before one hits, grab our free guide, The First 24 Hours After Water Damage — it walks through everything above in more detail, so it’s already in your hands before you ever need it.
-Ally