Spring Flooding in Omaha and Lincoln: How to Prepare Your Home

Preparing for spring flooding comes down to four things: knowing where water would come from at your address, moving it away from the foundation, making sure the sump system works, and checking your insurance well before the thaw. Most of it is weekend work that can be done in fall or late winter.

Why spring is flood season in eastern Nebraska

Several things line up between late February and June.

• Snowmelt on frozen ground. Frozen soil cannot absorb water, so melting snow runs off toward low spots, streets, and creeks.
• Rain on snow. A warm rain on top of a snowpack releases a lot of water in a short time.
• Ice jams. When river ice breaks up, it can pile into jams that back water up behind them.
• Spring thunderstorms. By May and June the ground is often saturated, and heavy storms have nowhere to send their rain.

March 2019 showed what happens when these combine. A powerful late-winter storm brought rain and rapid melt onto frozen ground, and rivers including the Platte, Elkhorn, and Missouri flooded communities across eastern Nebraska.

Geography shapes the risk. The Omaha metro sits between the Missouri River on the east and the Elkhorn and Platte on the west and south, and the Papillion Creek system drains much of the city in between. In Lincoln, Salt Creek and tributaries such as Antelope Creek and Beal Slough carry runoff through town.

Two kinds of flooding

River and creek flooding makes the news, but many homes deal with a quieter kind: groundwater rising around the foundation, runoff pooling against the house, or storm drains that cannot keep up. A house on a hill miles from any creek can still end up with a wet basement.

Step 1: Know your risk

• Look up your address on FEMA's flood maps to see whether you are in a mapped flood zone.
• Check with your natural resources district. The Papio-Missouri River NRD covers the Omaha area, and the Lower Platte South NRD covers Lincoln.
• Look for clues in the basement: white mineral deposits on the walls, old water lines, rust at the bottom of the furnace or water heater, and stains on the lower edge of drywall.

Being outside a mapped floodplain lowers the risk without removing it. Local drainage problems do not show up on those maps.

Step 2: Check insurance before the thaw

• Standard homeowners policies generally do not cover flooding, meaning surface water that comes in from outside.
• Flood insurance is a separate policy. Policies through the National Flood Insurance Program typically have a 30-day waiting period before they take effect, so buying one when the forecast turns bad is usually too late.
• Sump pump overflow and sewer or drain backup are often a third item, covered only if you added an endorsement.

Every policy is different. Ask your agent to explain which kinds of water are covered and which are not. For how we handle the claim side after a loss, see our insurance claims page.

Step 3: Move water away from the house

• Clean the gutters in late fall after the leaves are down.
• Extend downspouts so they empty several feet from the foundation onto ground that slopes away.
• Fix the grade. Soil settles next to foundations over the years. Add fill so the ground slopes away from the house on every side.
• Shovel snow back from the foundation and out of window wells before a big melt. A drift against the house becomes water against the house.

Step 4: Get the sump system ready

Late winter is the right time to check it. Pour water into the pit and confirm the pump starts, empties the pit, and shuts off. Then go outside and find the end of the discharge line. In February and March that line is often frozen or buried under snow, which leaves the pump running with nowhere to send the water. A battery backup is worth adding before storm season.

Step 5: Prepare the basement itself

• Store belongings on shelves, not on the floor, and use plastic bins in place of cardboard boxes.
• Move irreplaceable items such as photos, documents, and keepsakes to an upper floor.
• Take a video inventory of the basement and its contents, and store a copy off-site or online.
• Place inexpensive water sensors near the sump pit and the water heater.

If you are finishing or refinishing a basement, material choices matter. Our basement reconstruction work often involves rebuilding with materials that handle moisture better than standard carpet and paper-faced drywall.

When a flood watch or warning is issued

• Follow National Weather Service forecasts and local emergency officials.
• Move valuables and electronics upstairs, and move vehicles to higher ground.
• Never drive or walk through flooded roads.
• If officials tell you to evacuate, go.

If water gets in

Stay out of a flooded basement until you are sure the power is off. Treat floodwater as contaminated, because it has picked up whatever was on the ground and in the storm system.

If the basement is deeply flooded and the ground outside is still saturated, avoid pumping it all out in one go. Emergency management guidance generally recommends lowering the water gradually, since emptying a basement too fast while wet soil presses on the walls can damage the foundation.

Photograph everything, contact your insurance agent, and get help with extraction and drying from a storm damage restoration crew. Air Force Restoration serves both the Omaha metro and Lincoln.

Wrapping up

Learn your risk, sort out insurance while the ground is still frozen, keep roof and yard water moving away from the foundation, test the sump system, and get your belongings off the basement floor. None of it is complicated, and nearly all of it can be finished before the first warm week in March.