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Ministry of Health

Flooding and Your Health

What you can do before, during and after a flood

Preparing for a potential flood, protecting yourself during a flood and getting your home in order after being impacted by a flood can seem overwhelming. Flood water may contaminate drinking water supplies, introduce pollutants and debris into your home and lead to malfunction of sewage disposal systems. Protecting yourself and your family from illness is a critical part of getting your life back to normal.

Following a substantial flood there may also be damage to roads and utilities in your community. Electricity may be shut off, telephone and internet may not work, and basic services like sewage and water may not be available for some time. Businesses such as pharmacies, food stores and gas stations may be closed, making tasks that we usually take for granted challenging, if not impossible, for some time.

With planning and preparation, you can help to minimize the impact of any disaster.

This site provides an overview of:

How to prepare for a flood (PDF 92K)
  • Protecting your water supply (for small systems and wells)
  • Preparing your septic system
  • Minimizing health risks
  • Safety precautions
  • Who to contact
What to do during the flood (PDF 55K)
  • Monitoring water quality
  • Disinfecting drinking water
  • Septic systems and alternatives
What to do after the flood (PDF 61K)
  • Boil Water Advisories
  • Private systems: testing your water
  • Disinfecting drinking water
  • Private systems: disinfecting a well
  • Septic systems and alternatives
  • Mould
  • Food
  • Who to contact