SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As thunderstorms move through Michiana, waterproofing companies are encouraging people to prepare for flooding.
Matthew Kaminsky, VP of Operations at EverDry Waterproofing in South Bend, says they have five trucks in the garage so there can be multiple crews helping with flooded basements at once.
He says there are multiple ways you can avoid basement flooding.
"My first recommendation, especially with all the rain that's coming down right now, would be to take a look at your gutters and your down spouts and the grading of around your foundation."
For people with older homes, this next tip is for you.
"Take a shovel and dig around the exterior foundation a little bit and see if you have any of that mastic and that waterproofing coating from when the house was originally built. We typically see after 10 to 12 years that water proofing, or damp proofing, tends to erode, and then your foundation is just bare and exposed,"
According to Kaminsky, an old foundation plus a brutal winter can cause more damage than you think.
"What winter does to the roads, is what is happening to your foundation. So, these foundations are in a much worse spot than they were a year ago, and we have a ton of rain coming, rain that we haven't seen in two to three years. So it's really important that homeowners get ahead."
This is something to keep in mind as ABC57 continues to cover severe weather in the area.