How to assess damage to workstations caused by flooding?

Question

Several of my workstations were recently involved in a flood of fresh water from the ceiling, but it's unclear how much water each was exposed to. They were all powered up at the time, and positioned on the floor (I know...). Visual inspection revealed some signs of splashing on their outer casing.

My main question: How should I go about assessing their viability (both short- and long-term)? Presumably further damage could be caused by attempting to power them up again, even if there are no visible signs of water still present? They are all high-end PCs that are required to be reliable and stable - would it be reasonable to assume that their closeness to the flood means that they are compromised (for insurance purposes at least), even if no visible signs of damage are present? They have all been left in place, for insurance pruposes, with dehumidifiers used to remove any remaining water from the building. All their data is backed up, so at least I don't have to worry about that!

Answer 1

This may depend on jurisdiction & 'quality' of your insurance, but this is one time I wouldn't even attempt any inspection. Let the insurers deal with it.

There are two paths they will take

1. Actually send them away for examination/repair - if they do this they would have to supply replacements for the duration - which is a bit pointless, so they will most likely go for …

2. Pay for or directly supply brand new replacements, in exchange for them permanently removing the old machines. [You would either be able to negotiate for removal of the drives/sensitive data before releasing them, or certified disposal.]

Let this be someone else's problem. That's what insurance is for.
Don't let them do the "if it turns on it's not damaged" excuse. that's not their field of expertise.

^{This is based on real-world experience under similar circumstances a couple of years ago. the insurance company basically agreed carte blanche to replace everything in the affected room. We chose to retain some items of personal value; everything else went, new for old.}