Keeping Your Head Above Floodwaters
"Turn around, don't drown" and other survival tips.
March 21, 2008 — -- Since Tuesday, dozens of people in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite have joined in the search for 14-year-old Shaun Hebert.
Officers and volunteers have sifted through thick brush and scoured drainage tunnels on their hands and knees, feeling underneath water and debris. It's a search that has now been deemed a recovery effort.
Shaun, a ninth-grader who played French horn in his high school band, was swept away by rushing floodwaters Tuesday as he and his best friend Joel Wilson, 15, were walking together near a swollen creek.
It was spring break and the boys -- who were often seen around the neighborhood throwing baseballs and riding their bikes -- were not in school.
"I jumped in after him to try to get him, but I couldn't," Wilson told the Dallas Morning News. "Once he got sucked in, he tried to grab the ledge, but it just swept him away."
The floodwaters that have swallowed up neighborhood after neighborhood across the nation's midsection this week have killed at least 15 people, including a woman who was swept away in her car near the Ohio city of Wilmington.
The floods have also been blamed for the deaths of at least five motorists in Kentucky.
Experts familiar with a flood's deadly potential say even a few inches of seemingly tranquil water can kill.
"In just six inches of water, your car can become buoyant," said Trooper Betsy Randolph of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, a 15-year veteran of law enforcement. "And in a foot or two of water, most cars will float, even SUVs and pickups."
Randolph says it's imperative to avoid driving or walking through floodwaters. "Turn around, don't drown" has become a common refrain among law enforcement.
But if your vehicle becomes stalled in moving or rushing water, Randolph suggests immediately unlocking your doors and rolling down your power windows, even if it's raining. That way, if your electrical system shorts out and water pressure pushes on the doors, you'll have an avenue of escape.
And if the water is pushing your vehicle, it's important to get away from it as quickly as possible.
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