TL;DR: If flash flood water is in your Midland house right now, cut power at the breaker only if you can reach it without stepping in water, stay out of the water yourself, and call a 24/7 water damage crew at (432) 847-4704 before you call your insurer. Water that flows in from outside during a flash flood is treated as Category 3, or black water, under IICRC guidelines, so extraction needs to start fast. Check your policy before assuming it’s covered: most standard homeowners policies don’t pay for flood water, only flood insurance does.
Midland’s flat streets and caliche soil don’t drain the way sandier ground does, so a fast-moving storm can push several inches of water into a garage, a back bedroom, or a sunken living room before the rain even lets up. If that’s happening at your house right now, call ACS Enterprise at (432) 847-4704. The crew answers 24/7, and getting extraction started matters more in this moment than sorting out your insurance coverage, which can wait until the water is out.
What should you do in the first few minutes?
Cut power to any flooded rooms at the breaker panel, but only if the panel is dry and you can reach it without stepping into standing water. If you’re not sure, leave the power on and stay out of the flooded area entirely.
Treat any water that came in from outside, through a door, a window, a foundation crack, or up through the floor, as contaminated. Under the ANSI/IICRC S500 standard, floodwater that crosses yards, streets, and storm drains before reaching your house is Category 3, which means it can carry fuel residue, fertilizer, animal waste, or sewer overflow picked up along the way.
A few things to do while you wait for help:
- Photograph the water level and any visible damage before you move anything, for your insurance file.
- Keep kids and pets out of the affected rooms.
- Don’t plug in or run any appliance that got wet, even if the outlet looks dry now.
- Move salvageable items (rugs, furniture legs, boxes) off the wet floor if you can do it safely.
For a fuller walk-through of the first day after water gets into a house, see our first 24 hours checklist.
Who do you call first: the restoration crew, the utility, or your insurer?
Call 911 or your electric utility first only if you smell gas, see sparking, or spot a downed power line anywhere near the water. Otherwise, call a water damage crew before you call your insurance company.
Most homeowners policies expect you to limit further damage once a loss happens. That means getting water out and the structure drying is something you’re supposed to start promptly, not something you wait on an adjuster to approve. Calling an insurer first, before anyone has stopped the water or documented the scene, usually just delays the part that actually protects your house.
Once extraction and drying are underway, that’s the right time to open a claim. A restoration crew that documents moisture readings, photos, and the water’s origin as they work hands you most of what an adjuster will ask for anyway.
What happens when you call a water damage crew in Midland?
Have your address, the rooms affected, and roughly how the water got in (through a door, up through a slab, down a window well) ready when you call. That tells the crew what equipment to bring.
On arrival, expect an assessment of how deep the water sits and whether it’s Category 3, extraction with truck-mounted or portable pumps, and placement of air movers and dehumidifiers once the standing water is gone. Porous materials that soaked in contaminated floodwater, carpet pad, drywall below the waterline, insulation, are usually removed rather than dried in place, since drying them doesn’t make them safe to keep.
You can see the full scope of that work on our flood damage restoration and emergency water removal pages, and we also handle the cleanup end if a backed-up drain line was involved through sewage cleanup.
Does homeowners insurance cover flash flood water in Texas?
Usually not. Standard Texas homeowners policies generally cover sudden, accidental water damage from inside the home, a burst supply line or a failed appliance hose, but water that flows in from outside during a flash flood typically needs a separate flood insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood carrier.
That split catches a lot of homeowners off guard, because the damage inside the house can look identical either way. Check your actual policy and don’t assume. The Texas Department of Insurance and our own breakdown of what homeowners insurance covers for water damage both walk through the distinction in more detail.
Standing water outdoors is also genuinely dangerous to wade through: it can hide open drains, downed lines, and debris, and Ready.gov’s flood guidance recommends never walking or driving through moving or standing floodwater if you can avoid it.
If flash flood water is sitting in your Midland house right now, get people and pets clear of it, call (432) 847-4704 for extraction, and sort out the insurance side once the water’s out and the drying has started.
About ACS Enterprise
This post was prepared with the ACS Enterprise team by Aldredo Moreno. ACS Enterprise is a locally owned, 24/7 water damage and flood cleanup company based in Midland, TX, founded in 2019 and serving Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, and surrounding Permian Basin communities. Their crews handle water damage restoration, flood damage restoration, emergency water removal, sewage cleanup, and storm damage restoration.
Need help now? Call ACS Enterprise at (432) 847-4704.