June 1 to November 30 — every Tampa Bay homeowner knows the dates. Hurricane prep usually means shutters, water, and batteries, but there's a cleaning side to storm season that gets overlooked until it's urgent. A little prep keeps a near-miss from becoming a mess, and the right cleanup after keeps a wet house from becoming a moldy one.

Before the storm: the cleaning checklist

  • Clear gutters and downspouts. A clogged gutter in a tropical downpour sends water under fascia and into walls. Do this at the season's start, not when a cone appears.
  • Police the lanai and yard. Anything loose is a projectile — but it's also future debris in your pool and against your sliders. Stow furniture, potted plants, and toys early.
  • Empty the fridge strategically. If an evacuation or long outage looks possible, eat down the perishables and freeze water bottles to fill freezer gaps (a full freezer holds cold far longer). A quarter on top of a frozen cup of water tells you later if everything thawed and refroze.
  • Run the dishwasher and laundry before landfall — you may not have power (or clean water) for days.
  • Photograph rooms while they're clean and dry. If you end up with water intrusion, before-photos make insurance claims dramatically easier.

After the storm: first 48 hours

Mold needs 24–48 hours of dampness to establish — in a powerless, un-air-conditioned Florida house, the clock runs fast. Priorities, in order:

  1. Safety sweep first: no standing water near outlets or cords, no ceiling bulges (poke a small drain hole into a bucket before a bulge bursts), and assume debris hides nails and glass.
  2. Get water out and air moving: wet-vac or towel up standing water, open windows if the humidity outside is lower than inside, and run fans the moment power allows.
  3. Pull wet things apart: lift area rugs off wet floors, pull furniture away from damp walls, and prop cushions on edge. Anything soaked that can't dry within two days — carpet pad especially — usually has to go.
  4. Wash every surface floodwater touched with detergent and water, then disinfect. Storm water isn't rainwater; treat it as contaminated.
Know when to stop: floodwater that rose into walls or ductwork, sewage backflow, or mold patches bigger than a card table are remediation jobs, not DIY weekends. Run a generator outdoors only — never in a garage, even with the door open.
Pro tip: keep a "storm cleanup tote" packed June through November: heavy rubber gloves, contractor bags, a headlamp, disinfectant, and old towels. After a storm, the stores sell out of exactly those five things first.

And if the storm leaves more mess than time — post-storm cleanups, debris dust, and "the fridge died while we evacuated" situations are calls we answer every season. You handle the family; we'll handle the scrubbing.