FLOODS
COST LIVES AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PROPERTY DAMAGE EACH YEAR AROUND
THE UNITED STATES
How do you protect yourself against the dangers of floods? The NOAA National Weather Service has extensive tips and programs to help get the word out about flooding and ways to save lives and property.
Tom Graziano, acting chief of the NOAA Hydrologic Services Division, part of the National Weather Service, says the greatest tragedy about flooding deaths is that most of them can be avoided if people just didn't try to drive through flooded roads. "A lot of times when you approach a water-covered roadway you don't know how fast the water is moving. You don't know how deep it is. You don't even know if there's a roadbed underneath. In fact, it only takes about six inches of moving water to sweep a person off their feet, and as little as two feet of water to sweep an automobile, including SUVs, downstream.” Whether its ice jams, rapidly melting snow, torrential thunderstorms or slow-moving tropical storms, floods are a threat across the USA year round. Graziano said the NOAA National Weather Service continuously tries to educate the public about the dangers posed by floods and safety measures to protect life and property. He said that during the very intense 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, flooding associated with two hurricanes in particular, took hundreds of lives and caused property damage in the tens of billions of dollars. "What the numbers tells us that we're losing about over 100 people a year and in excess of four-and-a-half billion dollars in damages,” said Graziano. “Now, that does not include Fiscal Year 2005 where the deaths and damages far exceed those numbers, and that's the direct result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In fact, we on an annual basis compile the flood loss statistics for the Corps of Engineers, and our preliminary data for Fiscal Year 2005 indicated flood losses in excess of 40 billion dollars and the loss of life in the vicinity of a thousand folks. So, it was a particularly bad year in large part the results of the combine effects of those two hurricanes."
Graziano says there are a number of things people can do before a flood poses a risk, including having a NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards with fresh batteries. "Find out if you're located in a high, medium or low flood risk area. Check with your local, city or county government to find out if your community is participating in the National Flood Insurance Program. Start with the building or planning department to review flood insurance rate maps, which are published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Develop an evacuation plan,” he said. Everybody in the family should know where to go if you have to leave, and make sure that after you develop it you discuss it with family members. Everybody should know what to do in case family members get separated. Determine if the roads that you normally travel to reach your home or job will be flooded during a storm."
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agency of the U.S. Department of
Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national
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events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal
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