Restoration companies are working flat out, fixing homes in Windsor and Essex County that were flooded during record rainfalls this week and have some advice for homeowners who must now navigate a world of soggy furniture, contractors and insurance claims.

Once water has been cleared from the home and water-damaged goods removed — an important process to prevent the accumulation of mould — the most important thing for residents to do is to document everything. Take photos of the damage, take photos of the clean up effort, keep portions of damaged goods instead of trucking it all to the curb and keep all receipts related to the clean up.

"Take your time, and again catalog everything you do and keep track of your time, and if you buy fans and things like that, you should keep records of all of that because if you are going to claim it, you might as well put that through as well," said home inspector Rob Iseppi, who is dealing with flooding in his own basement.

In most cases, insurance companies will offset deductibles, said Iseppi.

"Log your man hours, time spent and if you buy anything like fans or dehumidifiers - keep the receipts," he said.

Jim Parker of restoration company Parker DKI said residents can throw out the bulk of their damaged goods so long as they keep sufficient samples to show the insurance adjuster.

"Keep a sample of the flooring you had. Keep a sample of the baseboard you had, so that when an estimate is written or if the insurance adjuster comes out, he will see if you had a laminate floor, a carpeted floor, what was the pad," said Parker. "They can qualify all that and give you like kind and quality and/or a cash value for like kind and quality."

An estimated 100.4 millimetres of rain was recorded at the Windsor Airport between Monday and Tuesday, while 165 mm was measured in Essex and a whopping 169.4 mm and 290 mm came down in the Riverside area and LaSalle respectively.

The city's 311 line had received about 2,700 calls about flooded basements by 3:45 p.m. Wednesday and that number may yet climb. More than 400 basements were flooded in Lakeshore and about 105 basements were flooded in Tecumseh. About 20 basements were hit in LaSalle.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens has asked the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to assess the damage and see if the city qualifies for Disaster Recovery Assistance, which would provide some provincial money to help qualifying residents recover from the flooding. The ministry is expected to dispatch an assessment team to the area Thursday or Friday.