EMERGENCY INFORMATION

• Flood waters can be extremely dangerous. The force of six inches of swiftly moving water can knock people off their feet. The best protection during a flood is to leave the area and go to shelter on higher ground.
• Flash flood waters move at very fast speeds and can roll boulders, tear out trees, destroy buildings, and obliterate bridges. Walls of water can reach heights of 10 to 20 feet and generally are accompanied by a deadly cargo of debris. The best response to any signs of flash flooding is to move immediately and quickly to higher ground.
• Cars can be easily be swept away in just 2 feet of moving water. If flood waters rise around a car, it should be abandoned. Passengers should climb to higher ground.

DANGER ZONES

Floods and flash floods can occur virtually anywhere. Communities particularly at risk are those located near water (the rivers,creeks, canals or lakes), in low-lying areas, or downstream from a dam or levee. Another risk area is upstream, from large culverts or out falls.

WHAT IS A FLOOD?

Floods are the most common and widespread of all natural disasters--except fire. Much of Salt Lake County is susceptible to flooding after heavy rains, heavy thunderstorms, or tropical weather such as a depression, tropical storm or hurricane. Floods can be slow, or fast rising but generally develop over a period of days.

WHAT IS A FLASH FLOOD?

Flash floods usually result from intense storms dropping large amounts of rain in a short time. Flash floods occur with little or no warning and can reach full peak in only a few minutes.

HELP YOUR COMMUNITY GET READY

The media can raise awareness about floods and flash floods by providing important information to the community. Here are some suggestions:

• Publish a special section in your local newspaper with emergency information on floods and flash floods. Localize the information by printing the phone numbers of local emergency services offices, the American Red Cross, and hospitals.
• Interview local officials about land use management and building codes in floodplains.
• Work with local emergency services and American Red Cross officials to prepare special reports for people with mobility impairments on what to do if an evacuation is ordered.
• Periodically inform your community of local public warning systems.

DID YOU KNOW...

• If your home has flooded before, it is likely that it will do so again, unless YOU take action to prevent it!
• Individuals and business owners can protect themselves from flood losses by purchasing flood insurance through National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Homeowner's policies DO NOT cover flood damage. Information is available through local insurance agents and the Emergency Management Department.Flood insurance DOES NOT go into effect until 30 days after you apply!
• When heavy rains impact a swamp or marsh, it floods, and the lowest parts of the swamp or marsh flood the most. It is not technically or environmentally possible to drain these areas to the point were flooding will not happen!
• Since 1979 new construction has been required to meet elevation requirements of the NFIP. Homes built before 1979 may be more likely to experience flooding because elevation was not required! If your home or business is lower than those around you, it means your risk is greater. This is not because the other buildings are higher, but because yours is lower!
• Flooding has caused the deaths of more than 10,000 people since 1900. Property damage from flooding now totals over $1 billion each year in the United States.
• In the worst single natural disaster ever, 6,000 people drowned in a storm surge at Galveston, Texas in 1900.
• More than 2,000 people died around Lake Okeechobee in the 1928 hurricane when the levees broke under the stress of a storm surge on the lake.
• More than 2,200 lives were lost as a result of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood of 1889. This flood was caused by an upstream dam failure.
• Nearly 9 of every 10 Presidential disaster declarations result from natural phenomena in which flooding was a major component.