Submerged In Seconds!

Don’t Fall Victim to a Flash Flood

- Michael D'angona

The outdoors can be as nasty as it is beautiful. What might look like a great place for you to set up camp could become the worst decision you make in your lifetime. This is because, depending upon your geographical environment, forecasted weather conditions and topography of the local terrain, your seemingly ideal choice to pitch your tent and get some rest could be washed away due to an extremely powerful flash flood.

The risk from flash floods is often the result of poor choices made when setting up camp in the bush or because of rash decisions made when encountering rising waters during extreme rainstorms in familiar areas.

Flash floods strike hard and fast, and it’s for this very reason that everyone, for their own safety, needs to know why flash floods occur and how to protect themselves from the onslaught of unstoppable liquid fury.

MORE THAN JUST RAIN

The key element that distinguishes a “flash” flood from a “regular” flood is the amount of time it takes to occur; typically, within a six-hour time span. This short time frame catches many people by surprise and, before they can properly react, it’s too late.

Most people attribute the creation of flash floods simply to heavy, persistent rainstorms— which is true. However, unknown to many, there are numerous other ways these torrential tsunamis can be formed.

The most common cause of flash floods is when heavy precipitation falls rapidly on either rain-saturated soil or extremely dry soil that lacks a high water-absorption rate. Other ways flash floods occur include volcanic activity, where glaciers melt rapidly from the intense heat, and the runoff flows down the mountainside and engulfs whatever and whoever is downstream.