LEWIS COUNTY, Wash. -- First came the water, now the fire. It is as if the two cannot make peace.

As area residents struggle to rebuild in the wake of the destructive December storms, they're faced with a new hidden danger -- house fires caused by water-soaked electrical wires.

Linda Bond first caught scent of the major problem when she smelled something burning inside her Centralia home. Then she saw it firsthand inside the control panel.

"It was hot, the whole panel was hot," she said. "It was all melted and bubbling and hot."

The protective insulation around the main line that feeds electricity to her house caught fire just a few feet away from her kids and grandkids. Thankfully, the flames did not spread.

"Oh, it would have been bad," Bond said.

What caused the fire in the first place? Too much water.

December's floods left nothing dry, including electrical wires. When wires dry out, there's a chance the insulation can flake right off and start a ticking time bomb. In Bond's case, only a fingernail-sized strip of wire was exposed, but that was all it took to spark a blaze.

The Red Cross is desperately trying to get the word out to home owners.

"They need to know where they can go the time when something happens (and) have their supplies together," said Michelle Fries, Red Cross volunteer.

Bond's family spent a month in a motel while crews cleaned the flood damage to her house. They don't want to have to leave again like some have already had to do.

A family in Chehalis nearly lost their home to a fire started by electrical wiring damaged by flood water. The home didn't go up in flames, but the family lost a lot of what was inside.

Bond wonders what the county has to do to get a break.

"Oh yeah, it's really, really stressful," she said.

Residents who were flooded during the December storms are urged to have their electrical wiring checked out.