Preparing for the floods.

Here in the UK we are having some horrendous weather, with floods wrecking whole towns and manymany people being forced from their homes.

Hellmutt has already done an excellent thread on the floods themselves here....

Ireland Floods - Once-in-800 Years Event

There have been more in the north of the UK, with bridges being washed away and almost 2000 more bridges now needing to be looked at due to the damage.

Urgent Checks On Cumbria's 1,800 Bridges

Check out the video below to see what they've had to cope with...



I think i am pretty safe where i am, but i know a lot of our village gets flooded quite badly, and theres a few rivers that overflow when we have a bad spell of weather.

Watching this on TV the other night, it got me thinking. I could have all the gear and knowledge in the world, but if i can't get out of my own house or town due to floods of thise magnitude, what good am i to my family?

Although Katrina was huge compared to these floods here in the UK, for many the effects will be the same now. I was wondering if anyone with flood experience had any tips for the survivalist who has not yet prepared for floods?

My initial thoughts would be to invest in some kind of rubber dingy, a sturdy one that could at least hold a couple of people.

The news is talking about people now having to boil their water in Ireland, so water filtration and purification is again something to consider.

Also, waterproofs. Whats the best kind to get? Even my Gortex stuff would let water in if you wade through it. What do the emergency services use just out of interest?

I'm not talking about kitting yourself out with as much gear as the fire service, but if you had to get your family out, or help neighbours, you'd want to stay protected.

Dry sacks for your BOB's, the kind you get in the sailing shops, No point in having all the gear to look after yourself if it's wrecked by the water.

Any advice most welcome.

CX.

[edit on 22/11/09 by CX]

well with water proofing and wading....theres always these:
www.sextonandsexton.com...

theyre called waders in the states. mostly used by fisherman so the can fish out in the deeper parts of rivers and things

if you had tons of cash a dry suit would probably be nice.

on the cheaper end of the spectrum, i think ive also seen people using duct tape to seal openings in waterproof articles if clothing. (holes for the head and limbs, zippers, etc...)

hope this was useful. good luck with the water

These people seem to have an answer for you... now if you can get the home office to issue these life saving devices...
watch the vid... white water rafting with blow up dolls...


Seriously I don't know what you can do other than follow the advice of the Civil Defence Corps.... they should have shelters food and safe drinking water staged by now... the biggest danger is to try and go it alone

Interesting points, i too wonder if flooding is going to be #the# sit x to prepare for.

Lucky for us english the country undulates greatly, even in the essex salt flats i'm not too far away from relatively high ground - the problem is if a serious flood were to hit then all the low areas would become flooded and it's easy to become stranded, like when you're on a beach when the tides coming in and you find yourself on a sandbank.

I would say then that a small inflatable boat, a good quality of the type sold at seaside towns for example would be perfect - My key survival stuff is stored inside thee large water tight plastic boxes, these i could load into the boat and tie down. My dry sacks of clothes, spare bedding and food could then clip (they're the large roll top type) onto the rope (most likely fixed using the grab handles or ore loops)

I would aim then to have room for maybe three other people at a squeeze (with small amounts of stuff, a single small bag each maybe) or one other person safely... This is an important point as well, a small dingy will be able to carry plenty of stuff a fairly short distance over smooth water but in some situations such as rough water it'll become dangerous to have more than two skilled people in the boat - this is fine if it's being used to leapfrog between 'safe' areas of dry land (hilltops, multistory carparks, rooftops, etc) as shuttle runs can be done to convey large groups / loads.

The real problem comes when making the break to reach somewhere quieter -when in a coastal inlet during flood conditions or fast flowing flash flood water the LAST thing you wanna be in is a tiny rubber boat! People get swept miles out to sea in even 'mild' currents, the massive forces at work during a storm will give leave you no chance of survival what so ever.

Your other vital survival item in a flood is a long bit of rope, tie one end to your heroic swimmer who fully understands water currents, etc - find a quiet bit of flow or one where it's easy to reach the point where you'll get pushed into the bank the other side rather than back to the one your on or out into sea - you can find plenty of diagrams in survival books about best places and ways of crossing a river as the lead man... Well then you've got a rope across the river and can use it to convey the little boat across safely loaded with one of the week swimmers and one of the heroicly athletic people or simply full of supplies. -Of course i should remind you, be very worried about large objects in fast flowing flood water, road signs, giant logs and tree branches, etc that could kill you instantly or tangle in the line and pull you out to sea - thats why you're only doing this in an actual real and present emergency, taking risks with the partys best swimmer just isn't fair to the group remember -it's more heroic to live and help everyone survive than die achieving nothing.

Of course when you find yourself stuck at the best place you can get to or half a mile of fast flowing water stands in your way then STOP. As soon as you're out of danger you can then turn your boat upside down using the sturdy wooden awes to create a small shelter, the underside is big and orange so either write SOS in large letters or if the skies are hostile scree net it or cover it in leaves.

The flash part of the flooding should abate with a day or two, fast flowing water will become mostly standing water and providing you have managed to survive this long you'll be able to get into your little boat and safely row to the next phase of your journey.

just my two cents.

Thanks for the replies

Don't get me wrong here, my plan would not be to end up in a position where i'd have to go by boat, i would hope as a prepper i'd have the sense to have not left it that late.

I also agree that going by the authorities recommendations would definately be an advantage over going it alone. Rescue centres (i've stayed in them here in the UK) will usualy have a lot more shelter and food than you can carry.

Also, if you watched the new the other night, the RNLI were having major problems getting across that fast flowing water in the high street, that was even in their motorised rescue boat.

Rope is a must in these situations, i also have one of those throwlines which are stowable and handy should anyone fall in.

Thanks again for the advice everyone, hopefully this won't ever be needed, but as you can see, it's not so unbelievable for the UK that is often deemed as being away from all the major disasters.

CX.

I'm in Workington, Cumbria, the devastation is unreal, I live 2 minutes from the collapsed Northside bridge, i'm actually suprised I wasn't caught in the floods, being more or less right next to the river derwent. My heart goes out to the family of PC Bill Barker who lost his life on the bridge, poor fella.