[pharmer14]

So in watching the news coverage of a natural disaster in a state thousands of miles away, the thought occurred to me that we should be looking for lessons from all the flooding.

What went right?

What went wrong?

How can we better prepare for similar disasters closer to home?

Insight from Coloradans would be especially helpful.

Anybody have any thoughts?

 

[bigdogbuc]

I'm not a "Bug Out" type. I have a small army I would have to move and the logistics, which are mainly lack of sufficient cash for necessary supplies for bugging out to support at least 12 people (including two infant grandchildren) and the proper vehicles to transport it all in, are daunting. But in this situation, I would have definitely needed to go. And I would have been SOL. I'm fortunate however that I live in an area that even though it has regional "flood warnings", I don't live near any of the rivers that flood or on a flat plain, and I live on a hill roughly 20 to 30 feet above sea level. The nearest inlet is about 3/8 of a mile away on the other side of some tall hills (+/- 100 feet) between me and the water. It is a protected cove in a protected inlet (Tsunami) inside inland waters (Mid-Southern Puget Sound).

This situation in Colorado did however make me realize that I need to figure out some sort of Bug Out Plan, even if minimal, just in case the extreme happened.

 

[retired guard]

One choose your ground then think again my area has had some minor flooding. However our worst episode came when a developer put his homes in a poor location. County Engineers diverted flood waters into our less affluent area.

 

[Deebo]

Not from Colorado, But only about 40 minutes south, and at my work, we had some serious runoff. We are situated 30 feet below a highway, and in direct line to the Animas River. Its probably five hundred yards from my site. Lots of mudslicks, lost water pressure for 3 days, and some roads and bridges beaten and damaged, heard someone say yesterday that San Juan County has about 1 million dollars in Damages, But this was just a sprinkling compared to some of the videos I watched about Colorado. Tragic, to say the least. As far as affecting my reaction, to bug out or in, still depends on the whereabouts whenever it does "go bad". Home, here, is small, fortified, well above waterline, but possible foolding would stop electricity and water. i have a small geni, could recharge freezer if need be, everything else would be cooked quickly..Water would be an issue, but I have capability, just not capacity.
If In Alb. at her house, flooding definately a threat, not fortified enough, and i dont carry the geni back and forth..Would prob quickly get out and head to my house..Bug in would only be for "panic and Kaos in the street".

 

[pharmer14]

I may be wrong, but I believe the flooding occurred in the foothills. I'm sure a lot of those people felt they were safe too... This is a freak system. If you check it out on weather underground, the system picked up moisture from the Pacific and then curved to do a North/South route over the Rockies.

 

[PaulS]

I looked at flood areas, faults (active and inactive), history of tornadoes, and at the proximity to military bases and volcanoes before I bought my home.
I want to know why others don't do the same thing?

 

[HuntingHawk]

I chose to live in Florida because mostly of the climate & growing seasons.
I spent three years doing my homework & learning. Learned the further you are from the coast the safer because most storms loose some strength. Read that as hurricanes. Also in Florida there are spots of high ground. But the rivers, ponds, & lakes are all on low ground that floods.

 

[Moonshinedave]

Natural disasters like the floods in Colorado only reinforce a lesson I learned a year ago during a freak storm that passed through this area, nothing as serious as in Co. but still an eye opener. The lesson was that things can and will go from normal to something quite different in a blink of and eye.

 

[Tundra Dweller]

Only run off i would have to deal with is what comes off my roof.. For the water table to get up to my house half of Alberta would be under water..

 

[pharmer14]

Natural disasters like the floods in Colorado only reinforce a lesson I learned a year ago during a freak storm that passed through this area, nothing as serious as in Co. but still an eye opener. The lesson was that things can and will go from normal to something quite different in a blink of and eye.

I believe I rode out the same storm up in Winchester last summer... I had to drive back from working in Purcelville... That's the storm that got me into prepping.