Car was caught in one of the Houston flash floods last night, and the water came right up to the bottom of my rear doors. I had about an inch in the rear floorboards, and about half an inch under each seat. I've got all of the water out that I could with towels, but I can still hear there is water under the carpet.

What do I do next? Call insurance? Pull up the carpet in the rear and get the water out myself?

2011 Hyundai sonata 2.0t, car is paid off. Have full coverage. TIA.

Good luck, brah. Hope it all works out for you.

insurance or rip out all carpet let sun dry, if stinky replace carpet

I left my windows done in a rain.

Shopvac'd the cap out of it. Then I bought a bunch of the damp rid closet hangers and hung them from all of the coat rack hook things, and put a damp rid can in each of the cup holders. And put a fan on the floor.

Rolled up the windows, left it in my driveway and emptied/refilled the damp rid every day until they stopped filling up. All said it cost me about $30 in damp rid.

The only long term effect was that my clock spring shorted out, which in turn shorted out my horn.


This is the stuff I am talking aboutDampRid Hanging Moisture Absorber Fresh Scent - 4 (16 oz/454g) Packs (1, 9 IN) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NGZYBVU/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_YRvfxb2DT2603

Next time turn the car and pour some water in the intake. It's going to stink forever.

Pull carpet out, vacuum interior and the carpet with wet/dry vac. Leave carpet out for a week or so, store car in garage with windows and doors open for days with fan circulating air. Before reassembling wipe interior with bleach water and spray carpet and interior with Lysol liberally.

If your carpet is jute backed and it is not thuroughly dried quickly it will stink forever.

Just got done pulling the interior pieces and carpet out. Now time to go buy a shop vac!

Had the same happen to my car a few years back. Dried what I could with towels and shopvac. Put fans facing down on all floors the first couple of nights. Smelled a little funky for a couple weeks but no long term effects.

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Car was caught in one of the Houston flash floods last night, and the water came right up to the bottom of my rear doors. I had about an inch in the rear floorboards, and about half an inch under each seat. I've got all of the water out that I could with towels, but I can still hear there is water under the carpet.

What do I do next? Call insurance? Pull up the carpet in the rear and get the water out myself?

2011 Hyundai sonata 2.0t, car is paid off. Have full coverage. TIA.

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What is your deductible? If its $500 or more...don't bother calling insurance. You can pay Hyundai to re-carpet the vehicle for that in cash...and you won't have a "flooded vehicle" ding on your history report.

I don't screw with them once they've gotten water in them. Electrical gremlins tend to pop up months or years down the road from corrosion once there has been standing water inside. You never really get all of it out.

I've seen it happen way too many times. It'll dry out and run great for a few months then something quirky will start happening with the radio. Probably don't think much of it. Then the windows start acting weird...then the alarm....the keyless entry...ignition...etc.

New vehicles have too many electronics in them to be able to survive a flood without some issues.

If you wait and try and claim it on insurance later you may be SOL. Better to be safe than sorry.

My wife left the sun roof open and it rained hard once.

Shop vac everything as good as possible.


Bought a good dehumidifier and had it run for about two days. Put baking soda on the carpets, let it sit and vacuumed it up a couple times. Everything as good as new.

Mr Dubi happens to be a pro at this. In case anyone wonders why we sold our civic, we had a "small" issue with our driveway flooding after a big rain.



Our driveway is the to right of the mailbox.

It will probably be ok if you remove and dry the floorboard carpeting, etc. yes, it MIGHT have some electrical bugs, but major electrical components are likely mounted higher up than that in the vehicle and probably did not contact water..probably.

Did this last October. Pulled up all carpeting. Bought a dehumidifier from Lowes for $200. Ran it in the car for about 3 days straight. Also ran it in the bathroom with all of the carpeting in the bathtub. Everything dried up nicely. Only lasting effect is seat belts don't recoil like they used to. Sold dehumidifier on craigslist for $150.

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Sold dehumidifier on craigslist for $150.

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I sold the dang car on Craigslist!

Thanks for all of the tips and recommendations. Judging from some of your stories my situation was not near as bad, but looks like I'm not going to have any long-term effects.

One of our neighbors always parks their car in the street near a stop sign. They left out some loose trash which clogged the storm gutter, and their car flooded. It was sweet karma.

Related story: my uncle had an early 70's Chevy Malibu and went with his brother and some friends to east beach Galveston to fish. They parked out near the beach, then started fishing their way down the beach for several hours. At some point, one of them noticed a glinting reflection out in the water in the distance, and a more careful look revealed it was the windshield of the Malibu, out in the water a good ways.

There fortunately was a flat surf that day, but the tide came in pretty high, and the water was halfway up the doors. They managed to find someone that went into town and sent out a tow truck, got it out, opened the doors and let all the water drain out, and started it up and drove it home.

Then they basically had to remove the entire interior and wash and dry it, and clean and dry the hell out of the rest of it. Amazingly, it never developed any gremlins or rust problems, and I remember riding in it as a kid in the early 80's before they sold it, and it was in great shape.

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Thanks for all of the tips and recommendations. Judging from some of your stories my situation was not near as bad, but looks like I'm not going to have any long-term effects.

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I drove my civic for 1.5 years after the flooding incident.

sounds like you'll be ok, hang the carpet up to dry. If you have jute, mix a few table spoons of bleach with a half gallon distilled water and spray on the jute to prevent it from smelling.

Lots of febreeze or other neutralizers on the carpet.

The seats, same thing, keep them dry and warmer if you can, help it dry out.


Once you put it all back in, you can get some silica gel packets (like they put with shoes) and keep them in the car to help pull out any additional moisture. Amazon sells larger bags of it and it really helps dry it out nicely.

Pull the rubber plugs in the floorpan and let the water drain, keep big fans blowing inside the car.

I wouldn't start the car, because if your seats are all out, it may trigger the SRS warning lights since you have seat airbags.

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Then they basically had to remove the entire interior and wash and dry it, and clean and dry the hell out of the rest of it. Amazingly, it never developed any gremlins or rust problems, and I remember riding in it as a kid in the early 80's before they sold it, and it was in great shape

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I wouldnt worry much about a 70's vintage car. Pretty much all wires and a few switches here and there. If it was a modern vehicle, I think I would dry it out, try to get the smell out, and sell it ASAP.

I've got a big bucket of Damprid in there now, and will keep it in there for a while.

Quick question about the jue treatment....should I spray it on and leave it on? Or vacuum out afterwards? The carpet has been completely dried/vacuumed with a shop vac, and has a ton of baking soda sitting on the carpet now.

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I've got a big bucket of Damprid in there now, and will keep it in there for a while.

Quick question about the jue treatment....should I spray it on and leave it on? Or vacuum out afterwards? The carpet has been completely dried/vacuumed with a shop vac, and has a ton of baking soda sitting on the carpet now.

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We just used a ton of the unscented Febreeze and let it sit a few days.

There was no residual smell when Mr Dubi re-assembled my Civic.