Adults will tough out a funky night. Kids’ lungs will not do you that favor. Asthma, babies, and a damp first floor are a bad stack.
If you can sleep at a dry relative’s, a hotel, or a shelter with clean air, do that while the machines run. The house does not need witnesses overnight.
Houstonians often report the child’s cough starting the second night, not the hour the water came in.
Do this now
- Find a dry place for kids and anyone with asthma to sleep tonight.
- Do not run a bedroom HVAC that is pulling air from a wet hallway.
- Keep play off the wet slab and out of the yard mud.
- If a child is wheezing, use their plan and get medical help. Call 911 if they cannot breathe.
What ‘good enough’ is not
A dry mattress on a wet carpet is not good enough. A tent in the living room next to a sewage smell is not good enough.
If only one bedroom stayed dry and up high, that can work with the door closed and a clean air path. If every room is clammy, leave.
Bring meds, the spacer, the nebulizer if you have power somewhere, and a comfort item you can wash later.
When you come back through the day
Short visits to pack and photograph are fine. All-day sitting in the damp while adults demo is not a kids’ activity.
Wash hands with safe water before snacks. Flood dirt on a graham cracker is a Poison Control story you do not want.
If school is closed and the house is a job site, ask 211 about daytime options. You cannot supervise a circular saw and a four-year-old in the same room.
Verify live. Status changes hourly. Shelter space and hotel help change hourly. If you need a dry overnight for kids, recheck ReadyHarris, City of Houston OEM, Red Cross Gulf Coast, and 211 before you assume a bed.
Do this next
- Floodwater categories: clean, gray, and black water
- Sewage backup in the house: immediate steps
- Water cleanup hub
More in Mold, sewage & health right after.