In 2016, hurricane Irma caused flooding of 8 inches into the garage. Thankfully the flooding did not go into the interior of the house. Hurricane Dorian is imminent: I do not expect to be able to keep out 12+ inches of water, but if I can keep out 8 inches with a small time / cost investment that would make sense.
Is there any history to show that polyurethane foam (marketed by Dow as "Great Stuff") applied to the garage door gaps (maybe in conjunction with a tarp) would buy / confer a degree of flood resistance?
Best Answer
I don't know that there's a practical way to do this (at least, not in a way that doesn't impede future use of the door). If you don't care about the door (or at least would consider some door repair as an acceptable result), I would suggest the following
The major caveat here is that 12-15" of standing water (let alone wind driven water) is going to be hard to keep out entirely, especially with something not designed to be waterproof. Expanding foam isn't really a good choice here because, while it is waterproof, it's also porous, and only deigned to prevent incidental water exposure, not standing water. With sandbags and caulk you might stand a chance, but it's far from certain.
As to cleanup, you'll have to cut the caulk and scrape the door clean, which will almost certainly damage the paint/finish of the door and maybe the outside frame. Be prepared to repaint the entire door after doing this.