Flash Flood Video

[Optimistic Paranoid]

[video=youtube], it turns out that just as there are "Storm Chasers"  who drive around trying to find and video Tornados, there are also Flash Flood Chasers who video flash floods.

This was amazing.  Hollywood has got it all wrong.  I had no idea about the debris field that leads a flash flood.

 

 

[highdesertranger]

amazing thanks for posting that. imagine the force of that moving that boulder. while prospecting once I came across a wash N of Death Valley, it was pretty far to any mountains but this wash had huge pine trees dumped there by a flash flood a couple of miles further down where the wash really opened up there were thousands of pine cones. highdesertranger

 

[LeeRevell]

Easy to see why vehicles get swept away and people die in flashfloods! It's like some kind of enormous living 'thing' engulfing all before it!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

The important take-away from that video is the fact that it was caused by a rainstorm in mountains 50 miles away that occurred 6 hours or more earlier.

I should have posted this down in the Safety forum.

Regards
John

 

[LeeRevell]

That's how we get our floods here, as the lakes and rivers well north of us fill, then the flood flows down south to us. We generally get enough warning to get things moved before it hits our low areas. But we don't get all that debris and trash.....

 

[oldogre]

Holly makeral, thats some scary footage, imagine being parked there, or just out letting the dog run and see that coming at ya, I have read Bob's blog article about flash floods, but to see it takes it to a new level, thanks for video

 

[Canine]

Easy to see why vehicles get swept away and people die in flashfloods!  It's like some kind of enormous living 'thing' engulfing all before it!

That's what most buffet managers think when they see me with a tray and three plates...

 

[waldenbound]

Ok, how are you supposed to stay safe in flash flood season? Geologically, what do the washes look like? Dried up riverbeds?
Say you see rain coming down far away. How do you know that the next moment a wall of water will be coming at you?

OMG, if I move down south, (and I'm thinking of it, you're right Bob,) May 1 I'm driving my van as fast as it will take me to northern Nevada, and I'll meet you all at the Q when monsoon season is over.

I'd love to see those dramatic desert storms, but being in the open, they terrify me as much as tornadoes in the mid-west.

 

[c_hasbeen]

wow I have never seen anything like that

 

[akrvbob]

Avoiding a flash flood is actually pretty easy. Three Steps:

1. Look around for the lowest ground
2. Be on higher ground.
3) Stay out of narrow canyons unless you know for certain there is no rain on the way.

In the video all he had to do was step up a two foot bank to be safe. If you stay on the bank and out of the wash, you will never be in any danger.
Bob

 

[LeeRevell]

A proper wash is pretty noticeable and obvious. This is a 'dry river course'. You can see the embankments either side. Of course in the East, we can have flooding in areas that normally do not, so it isn't as obvious. My sister was living in such an area. Once in a blue moon, a hurricane or tropical storm would cause major flooding, and her neighborhood had been built in what in the past was a river course. But Florida is flat enough, you needed a good topo map to see it. Once you see it the first time though, the signs are obvious - water rings several feet up on the trees, debris piles in places, etc.

 

[sprintersnale]

Nice to see what it looks like after decades of warnings. "Don't camp in the wash..." sounds like a good western song title.

 

[waldenbound]

Ok, so look for what looks like a dry river bed. Find the lowest ground, and move up to the higher ground.
Still, I think I'll spend monsoon season out of the Sonoran desert. Nice information to know though.

 

[highdesertranger]

just a tip N Nevada has flash floods too. camp on high ground compared to the surrounding terrain and you will never get caught in a flash flood. this however exposes you to the wind more. you can camp in small ravines to get out of the wind just make sure that the ravine doesn't extend for miles. basically anything under 1/4 of a mile is safe just as long as there are not other branch ravines feeding it above you in elevation. look at it this way, look at how much water could run off in your ravine if you can't see it from camp better go uphill to check it out. another tip most major washes have no vegetation at the lowest point, just sand. don't camp in the sandy part of a wash, move up in elevation where there is vegetation. I will take dealing with flashfloods any day, over tornadoes. highdesertranger