A Tragedy of Massive Proportions

Flash Floods, and the Damage Caused by them

To begin with, I’ve never experienced a flash flood. Some areas of the USA have more than their share of them.

My part of the country is prone to thunderstorms with high-velocity wind damage, basement flooding, damage caused by trees coming down, and tornados.

That’s all in addition to winter damage - snow, ice, power outages, traffic accidents, and roof collapse.

Most of the above are predictable. To prevent a roof collapse, a common building technique is to have relatively steep roofs, allowing accumulating snow to slide off before it freezes in place.

To prevent traffic accidents, when weather is bad, stay home if you can. That involves storing up food and necessities in advance.

Power outages? Get a home generator, to allow equipment to continue to perform in emergency situations.

Have trees inspected regularly, and trim damaged branches. Take down dying trees.

Basement flooding? Call in the people to dig around your house, and create pathways for excess water to go.

Now, communities are the same. If people are within a short distance of a river, make sure that building codes mandate a certain distance between people and the river.

Use dams to help with flood control. Keep them in good repair.

From reports that are circulating, the available dams were inadequate for the job. This WAS an unusually rapid and DEEP flash flood - 26 feet in 45 minutes. It’s not surprising that so many got caught. Check out the comments - they provide some info about local conditions, which may vary from the official news reports.

Now, one of the problems is people weren’t getting the storm warnings. It was late at night when the rains arrived. Many people are habituated to using their cell phones for all communication. Probably more than a few turn off notifications at night. (I wear hearing aids, so I use a flashing light for emergency communications.)

That’s a bad situation to be so dependent on a single, fragile means of communications.

Worse is that cell communications are highly dependent on the cell towers. Such infrastructure is one of the first casualties in a storm/flood.

For that reason, I recommend a weather radio for ALL people. Turned on low, with the override on volume set to allow notification during emergencies, it can be a lifesaver.

A VHF ham radio can serve the same purpose. Weather alerts are easy to set up. Just keep the phone in the charging cradle, and go to sleep, confident that you will be awakened by severe weather alerts affecting your area.

If your phone is any land-based type (landline, cells requiring towers nearby), you may find yourself helpless in an emergency. If you can afford it, get a satellite phone.

Otherwise, at least get a weather radio. At best, get an HT type amateur radio, and keep it charged. Use it regularly, so you aren’t caught off guard by the need for it, and helpless without the manual. That’s the real reason that hams regularly get on the ‘nets (regularly scheduled group communications, that are intended to keep those with radios regularly practicing with them. It’s a mutual support setup that uses local resource people to provide a backup means of communication when needed.

And, brother, when you need a backup form of communication, you REALLY need it.