Severe Weather Awareness Week Day 3 Covers Flooding and Turn Around, Don’t Drown

(KNSI) — Wednesday’s Severe Weather Awareness Week topic is all too relevant this time of year as flooding continues to wreak havoc across Minnesota.

Chanhassen-based National Weather Service Warning Coordinator Todd Krause says the most important thing is to avoid flooded areas, especially roads. “Don’t think that you can cross the road when there’s water flowing across the road because, a couple of things, you don’t know the integrity of that road. Maybe there’s been so much water flowing across it that the road bend underneath it is about to collapse.”

The saying is, “Turn around and don’t drown.”

He says flowing water can also wash away culverts leading to road failures. Krause explained that 75% of flash flood deaths happen after sundown, with half of the victims dying in their vehicles. “A lot of nighttime fatalities occur with flash flooding. The main thing is, moving water is a lot stronger than you might think.”

A car can stall out in six inches of water, and a foot of flowing water is enough to wash many vehicles away.

According to the NWS, floods claim dozens of lives a year, forcing 300,000 people from their homes and resulting in over $2 billion in property damage.

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