I need HELP, After vacation, Found Big FLOOD!

[Joe Kim]

FLOOD!

My parents went on a 2 wk vacation out of the country.

They asked me to water the plants once during the 2weeks.  1 week into the vacation, we came to check on the house and water the plants. Today we came into the house another 

1 week later, and my Dad yells for me to rush into the house.

water has flooded the 1st floor as water is leaking through the ceiling.  Upstairs on the second floor, its flooded from the master bedroom into the bedroom and also water soaked through into 2nd bedroom.

water was leaking from the connector from the toilet tank to the source.

I spent 3 hrs helping my dad clean up the mess as best as possible with towels, buckets, wet vacuum,  industrial fans.

my question is this.   My parents have insurance but they refuse to call them.  my dad says Everything has to dried before insurance has to make its assessment.   That means he plans to do the back breaking work of vacuuming and using fans, dehumidifiers and such.

Why not let insurance take care of it all?

Am I missing something here?

FYI,  my parents are old school 1st gen immigrants who typically do things the hard way due to ignorance, language barrier, and cultural differences.   Usually this means greater loss of money, time, and energy.

I have spent hours cleaning, largely because I want to help my parents but also because I feel guilty that this happened during my watch....although probably impossible to prevent unless I was house sitting which I was not doing.

Any advice about getting insurance involved early in the process of cleanup and drying?   the damage is extensive given the water was leaking on the order of days not hours!

Even if the answer is stupidly obvious,  I would like to know how you guys handle flooding incidences as regards to insurance.

thanks

joe