Flooded? Photograph everything before you move it

A plain guide to the first week: what to document, what you can safely do yourself to keep the bill down, when to call a plumber, when to call a restoration crew, and where help is locally.

Last updated October 26, 2026

Call (505) 325-9312

Farmington, Aztec, Bloomfield and the surrounding area

This was a record flood, and the water was not clean

The San Juan River crested at 14.1 feet at Farmington on 23 October, breaking a record that had stood since 1909.

Around 1,500 homes were damaged across San Juan County, some 600 Farmington homes were evacuated, and crews carried out roughly 60 swiftwater rescues.

New Mexico has requested a federal emergency declaration covering four counties and five Tribal nations.

Before you touch anything

Bloomfield's water reclamation facility was knocked offline during the flood and released untreated sewage into the river. Anything the floodwater touched should be treated as contaminated, not as wet.

Nitrile gloves, rubber boots and an N95. Keep children and pets out of the wet rooms, wash before you eat, and throw out food and medicine that got wet.

An M&R restoration technician extracting standing water from a flooded room — Water extraction on an M&R restoration job. Standing water comes out first; everything else waits on it.

Step one

Take far more photographs than feels reasonable

The house gets cleaned up long before anyone comes to assess it, and whatever you have already thrown out is gone from the claim with it. Photograph before, photograph during demo, and keep the pile until it has been seen.

01Stand in every doorway and take one wide shot of the whole room before you move anything.
02Photograph the high-water line with a tape measure held against the wall, in the same frame.
03Shoot the data plate on the furnace, the water heater, the air handler and the washer — the model and serial numbers are what an adjuster prices from.
04Open the cabinets and photograph under every sink, behind the toilets and inside the lowest drawers.
05Photograph damaged contents individually, not as a heap, and keep the heap until it has been seen.
06Walk the outside of the house: foundation, crawlspace vents, the meter, the AC pad, the fence line, the driveway.
07During demo, photograph behind every piece of drywall as it comes off — the wet insulation and the framing behind it is the evidence that the cut had to go that high.
08Photograph the subfloor once the carpet and pad are up, and the back of the material you removed.
09Keep every receipt, including fans, dehumidifiers, gloves and bottled water, and photograph those too.
10Back the photos up somewhere that is not the phone — the phone is the one thing in the house most likely to be lost next.

Hold off on this one

Do not pile up debris yet in San Juan County

The county has asked residents to hold off on tearing out and stacking drywall, carpet, furniture and spoiled food. The landfill and the transfer stations cannot accept flood debris at the moment, and a free, organized debris-removal program is being put together. Document everything now, and wait for the county to say where it goes.

Keep the bill down

What you can do yourself, safely

The first 48 hours decide how much of the house is saved, and most of what matters in that window is labor rather than licensed work. Every hour of it you do yourself is an hour nobody bills you for.

Shut the water off at the main and the gas at the meter if you have any doubt at all about either.
Open windows and get air moving through the house, outward, as soon as the weather allows.
Pull up soaked carpet and pad and get them out of the room — the pad holds more water than the carpet and is almost never saved.
Move furniture up onto blocks or foil, and get anything wooden off a wet floor before the legs wick it up.
Rent or buy fans and a dehumidifier and run them continuously; the first 48 hours decide how much of the house is saved.
Empty lower cabinets and closets, remove the drawers, and prop the doors open so the cavities can dry.
Take the baseboards off carefully — they often survive, and removing them lets the wall cavity breathe.
Drill or cut weep holes low in the drywall so a cavity can dry without tearing out the whole wall.
Bag and discard anything porous that sat in the water: mattresses, upholstered furniture, pillows, particleboard, insulation and any food or medicine that got wet.
Wear nitrile gloves, rubber boots and an N95 while you do any of it, and keep children and pets out of the wet rooms.

Who to call

A plumber and a restoration crew do different jobs

They get confused because both of them show up to water. One makes the water stop and the drains run. The other dries the building and proves that it is dry.

Call a plumber when

Drains are slow or backing up after the water has gone down — flood silt packs a sewer line solid.
The toilets gurgle, or water comes up in a tub or shower when a different fixture drains.
You have a septic system and the tank or the leach field was underwater.
The water heater, boiler or any gas appliance sat in standing water. It is replaced, not dried out.
The well head was submerged, or the water coming out of the tap looks, smells or tastes wrong.
A supply line, hose bib or crawlspace pipe broke, froze or was torn loose by moving water or debris.
You smell gas anywhere, at any time — leave first, then call from outside.

Call a restoration crew when

Water sat in the house for more than a few hours, or soaked into walls above the baseboard.
The floodwater came from the river, a sewer or a septic system, rather than from a clean supply pipe.
There is standing water you cannot remove with a shop vac and a mop.
Insulation, subfloor, hardwood or the bottom of the drywall is wet — those hold water long after the surface feels dry.
You can smell it. A musty smell means growth has already started, usually within 24 to 48 hours.
The ceiling is stained, sagging or dripping, or a wall feels soft when you press it.
Your insurer wants documented moisture readings and a drying log, which is most of them.

Plenty of flooded houses need both, in that order: the plumber makes the water stop and the drains run, then the restoration crew dries the structure and documents it. Asking one company for both is the point of calling a company that has both.

Plumbing services Water damage restoration Mold remediation Culverts & drainage

Air movers and a dehumidifier running on an M&R structural drying job — Structural drying with air movers and dehumidifiers, logged daily with moisture readings — which is what an insurer asks for.

Worth paying for

The parts that need a license or an instrument

Everything above saves you money. These are the ones where doing it yourself costs more than it saves, because they either need a license, a camera, a moisture meter or a replacement part.

Electrical: a panel, outlet, breaker or circuit that was wet is a licensed job, and the power stays off until it has been looked at.
Gas appliances: furnaces, boilers, water heaters and dryers that were underwater get replaced by a licensed technician, not relit.
Sewer and septic lines: a camera inspection shows whether the line is packed with silt or has been pulled apart.
Structural drying: commercial air movers, desiccant dehumidifiers and daily moisture readings are what prove a house is dry.
Anything behind a wall you have not opened, in a crawlspace, or on a ceiling you would need a ladder to reach.
Mold remediation with containment, if growth has already taken hold.

Local help, right now

Where to get help in San Juan County

These are not our phone numbers. They are the ones worth having first.

Disaster Recovery Center — San Juan College

Quality Center for Business, 5101 College Blvd, Farmington. Open 8am–5pm. Start here: one room, most of the agencies.

Photograph before you clear

County officials have been explicit that photos and video taken before cleanup are what support a claim and any federal assistance that follows the declaration.

San Juan County

Watch for the county’s organized cleanup and free debris-removal plan before hauling anything to a landfill.

Questions we are being asked this week

Flood damage, answered

Should I start tearing out drywall right away?

Photograph it first, every bit of it. Then hold: San Juan County has asked residents not to tear out and pile up drywall, carpet, furniture or spoiled food, because the landfill and transfer stations cannot take flood debris yet and a free, organized removal program is being arranged. Drying the house with fans and dehumidifiers while you wait is still worth doing.

Is the floodwater in my house dangerous?

Treat it as contaminated. Bloomfield's water reclamation facility was knocked offline during the flood and released untreated sewage into the river. Anything the floodwater touched should be treated as contaminated, not as wet. Wear nitrile gloves, rubber boots and an N95, keep children and pets out of the wet rooms, wash before you eat, and throw out any food or medicine that got wet.

How much of this can I do myself?

More than most people expect, and it genuinely saves money. Removing carpet and pad, carrying out ruined contents, running fans and dehumidifiers, emptying cabinets and taking off baseboards are all homeowner work. What is worth paying for is the part that needs a license or an instrument: wet electrical, gas appliances, sewer lines, and documented structural drying.

Why do the photos matter so much?

Because the house gets cleaned up long before anyone comes to assess it, and whatever you threw away is gone from the claim with it. Photos and video taken before and during demo are what an adjuster prices from, and officials have said the same about any federal assistance that follows the declaration.

My water heater and furnace were under water. Can they be dried out and used?

They are replaced. A gas control valve, a burner assembly and an electrical control board that have been submerged are not restored to a safe condition by drying, and the manufacturers say the same. The same goes for a submerged electrical panel or any outlet below the water line.

How fast does mold start?

Usually inside 24 to 48 hours in a warm, wet, closed-up room. Airflow is the single most useful thing in that window, which is why getting fans running matters more on day one than any decision about what to tear out.

Do you charge for a look?

Call (505) 325-9312 and ask. We are taking flood calls across San Juan County and routing them by how bad the water is, not by who called first.

For our neighbors

Flood pricing for anyone affected — ask when you call.

M&R has worked in San Juan County since 1954, and this is our town too. Plumbing and restoration crews are running on flood calls now. Call (505) 325-9312 and tell whoever answers that it is flood damage — it changes how the call is routed.

Flood crews are running now

Plumbing and restoration, dispatched by how bad the water is. Call (505) 325-9312.

Call (505) 325-9312

Or schedule online