With the transition from winter to spring underway, and the large amount of snow Mother Nature threw on us last week, it's best to be prepared to avoid any type of water damage to your property over the next few weeks.

It's important to get a head start on managing the snow around your property to prevent flooding or water damage once the melting starts to ramp up.

Greg Marcyniuk, Agency Owner at Heritage Insurance, shares some tips on how to prevent your home from suffering water damage:

"First and foremost you want to make sure all of your eaves(troughs) and gutters are clear. If you're having any build up of snow at all along the top of your roof you want to make sure you keep that clear so there's no ice damming. Make sure your downspouts are down, and they should be at least 3 metres away, and if you have to add an extension to it I would certainly recommend that."

"I would certainly go up and check your attic and remove any snow on your roof, as well as looking at any sort of cracks in your basement to see if anything is seeping in. If you don't have any sewer caps or sewer backup valves I would keep an eye on that, and definitely check your sump pumps and make sure they're working."

Marcyniuk goes on to say it's not the amount of snow that can cause problems, but rather, the rate at which it melts.

"If it's a rapid melt where we get a really warm day then I would be very concerned - especially once the frost starts coming out of the ground, there's another issue there. So we're a good couple [to] 3 weeks before we're out of the water. If it goes slow and easy, however, we should be okay."