What do I do if a pipe bursts at my shore house while I'm away?

First, stop the water

Everything else waits until the water is off. If someone local has your key, or you have a home watch service or a plumber nearby, call them before you get in the car. Tell them where the main shutoff is. If you don't know where it is, that is the first thing to fix before next winter.

If you can't reach anyone, call the town. During last February's cold snap, 6abc reported that residents who saw water gushing from a home were urged to call their town's non-emergency police line or the local water company. Public works crews shut the water off from the street, and when snow and ice covered the valves, the fire department helped them chop through it.

Whoever gets there first: if the water is anywhere near outlets, the electrical panel or an appliance, have the power to that area cut before anyone wades in.

If the pipe froze but hasn't burst yet

The American Red Cross says that if you turn on a faucet and only a trickle comes out, suspect a frozen pipe. Likely spots are against exterior walls and where the water service enters the house through the foundation. Keep the faucet open, because running water helps melt the ice, and warm the frozen section with an electric heating pad, a hair dryer, a portable space heater kept away from anything flammable, or towels soaked in hot water.

If you can't find the frozen spot, can't reach it, or can't thaw it, call a licensed plumber. Then check every other faucet in the house. The Red Cross warns that if one pipe freezes, others may freeze too.

Then get it dry, fast

The clock on mold starts the moment the water does. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it is important to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours, and that if wet materials are dried in that window, in most cases mold will not grow. Get the standing water up, get air moving, and pull out anything soaked that can't dry in place. The EPA notes that absorbent materials like carpet and ceiling tiles may have to be thrown away if they become moldy.

Photos first, then the insurance call

• Photograph or video the damage before the cleanup starts, from every room it reached.
• Call your insurance agent or company right away. The Insurance Information Institute says to phone your insurance professional immediately.
• Take reasonable steps to protect the house from further damage, and save the receipts for what you spend.
• If possible, keep the damaged items until the adjuster has seen them.
• Read your policy. Many homeowner policies only cover frozen-pipe damage if the heat was kept on or the water was shut off and drained, so expect the adjuster to ask what the thermostat was set to and when the house was last checked.

The part that decides how bad it gets

A burst pipe in a house someone lives in is a bad afternoon. In an empty house, it runs until somebody notices. Downbeach News has reported that public employees are often the first call when neighbors see water seeping out a front door, usually on the coldest nights of the winter. By then the water has been running for a while.

That is the whole case for weekly checks. Officials tell part-time owners to check on the house during extreme weather, or to arrange for someone else to. The someone else needs a key, a reason to go inside, and a way to show you what they found.