Severe Awareness Weather Week: How to stay safe in flash floods
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- As we mark Severe Weather Week in North Carolina, it is a good time to remember that more people die each year from flooding than they do from tornadoes, lightning, or hurricanes.
PHOTOS: Flash flooding hits Warren County in 2014
One type of flooding, flash flooding, can be particularly dangerous. Flash flooding occurs when a large amount of rain falls in an area over a short period of time. In this case, the ground is incapable of soaking up all of the water. The rain is then forced to run off into drainage systems or streams. Usually this type of flooding occurs in low lying areas or in areas where there is poor drainage.
Flash flooding has occurred in North Carolina more than a thousand times over the past 10 years, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and numerous fatalities. That's why it's important that you know how to stay safe.
Follow these tips to keep your family out of harm's way:
1. If a flash flood warning is issued for your area, move immediately to higher ground. Do not wait for instructions to move.
2. Do not walk through moving water. Six inches of moving water can make you fall.
3. Do not drive into flooded areas. If floodwaters rise around your car, abandon the car and move to higher ground, when water is not moving or not more than a few inches deep. You and the vehicle can be swept away quickly. If your vehicle is trapped in rapidly moving water, stay in the vehicle. If the water is rising inside the vehicle, seek refuge on
the roof.
4. Do not disregard or drive around traffic barricades that close off flooded roadways.
5. Do not camp or park your vehicle along streams, rivers or creeks, particularly during threatening conditions.
