FLOODS AND HURRICANES
In addition to the general guidance in Chapter 1 of this section, there are certain emergency actions particularly associated with major floods, hurricanes, and storm tides or surges. These types of disasters usually are preceded by extended periods of warning. People living in areas likely to be most severely affected often are warned to move to safer locations.
Evacuation
If you are warned to evacuate your home and move to another location temporarily, there are certain things to remember and do. Here are the most important ones:
• FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AND ADVICE OF YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT. If you are told to evacuate, do so promptly. If you are instructed to move to a certain location, go there--don't go anywhere else. If certain travel routes are specified or recommended, use those routes rather than trying to find short cuts of your own. (It will help if you have previously become familiar with the routes likely to be used.) If you are told to shut off your water, gas or electric service before leaving home, do so. Also find out on the radio where emergency housing and mass feeding stations are located, in case you need to use them.
• SECURE YOUR HOME BEFORE LEAVING. If you have time, and if you have not received other instructions from your local government, you should take the following actions before leaving your home:
--Bring outside possessions inside the house, or tie them down securely. This includes outdoor furniture, garbage cans, garden tools, signs, and other movable objects that might be blown or washed away.
--Board up your windows so they won't be broken by high winds, water, flying objects or debris.
--If flooding is likely, move furniture and other movable objects to the upper floor of your house. Disconnect any electrical appliances or equipment that cannot be moved--but don't touch them if you are wet or are standing in water.
--Do not stack sandbags around the outside walls of your house to keep flood waters out of your basement. Water seeping downward through the earth (either beyond the sandbags or over them) may collect around the basement walls and under the floor, creating pressure that could damage the walls or else raise the entire basement and cause it to "float" out of the ground. In most cases it is better to permit the flood waters to flow freely into the basement (or flood the basement yourself with clean water, if you feel sure it will be flooded anyway). This will equalize the water pressure on the inside and outside of the basement walls and floor, and thus avoid structural damage to the foundation and the house.
--Lock house doors and windows. Park your car in the garage or driveway, close the windows, and lock it (unless you are driving to your new temporary location).
• TRAVEL WITH CARE. If your local government is arranging transportation for you, precautions will be taken for your safety. But if you are walking or driving your own car to another location, keep in mind these things:
--Leave early enough so as not to be marooned by flooded roads, fallen trees, and wires.
--Make sure you have enough gasoline in your car.
--Follow recommended routes.
--As you travel, keep listening to the radio for additional information and instructions from your local government.
--Watch for washed-out or undermined roadways, earth slides, broken sewer or water mains, loose or downed electric wires, and falling or fallen objects.
--Watch out for areas where rivers or streams may flood suddenly.
--Don't try to cross a stream or a pool of water unless you are certain that the water will not be above your knees (or above the middle of your car's wheels) all the way across. Sometimes the water will hide a bridge or a part of the road that has been washed out. If you decide it is safe to drive across it, put your car in low gear and drive very slowly, to avoid splashing water into your engine and causing it to stop. Also, remember that your brakes may not work well after the wheels of your car have been in deep water. Try them out a few times when you reach the other side.
--If your house is on high ground and you haven't been instructed to evacuate, stay indoors. Don't try to travel, since you will be in danger from flying debris, flooded roads, and downed wires.
--Keep listening to your radio or television set for further information and advice. If the center or "eye" of the hurricane passes directly over you, there will be a temporary lull in the wind, lasting from a few minutes to perhaps a half-hour or more. Stay in a safe place during this lull. The wind will return--perhaps with even greater force--from the opposite direction.
Special Advice on Flash Floods
In many areas, unusually heavy rains may cause quick or "flash" floods. Small creeks, gullies, dry streambeds, ravines, culverts or even low-lying grounds frequently flood very quickly and endanger people, sometimes before any warning can be given.
In a period of heavy rains, be aware of this hazard and be prepared to protect yourself against it. If you see any possibility of a flash flood occurring where you are, move immediately to a safer location (don't wait for instructions to move), and then notify your local authorities of the danger, so other people can be warned.