Karen: Questions please...
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive April 2008:
Karen: Questions please...
What should my kids do when they are out on the roadways in New Orleans and it starts raining heavily, they are in their car the water is lapping right underneath their floorboards, and my dil is hysterical, my son is confused and not sure what to do! There are people pulled over on the median, but then their are people continuing to drive also. I don't know what to tell them to do, they were at Sam's Club and are fifteen minutes from the base I think. What should I tell them to do?! Is it best to keep driving as long as the water isn't too high? I've seen people being carried away in high floodwater. Please give me some advice here if you can.
Pull over to the nearest *higher* place around immediately. Period. It's not safe to keep driving, simply because you have no way of knowing if the road dips ahead and the water is deeper.
When my DH first moved here from MD, he was driving home from work and it had been raining HARD for a few hours. He worked in an area where the streets flooded easily. Well, he kept on driving, and then he realized there was water IN his car. He wised up and pulled into a parking lot that was higher than the street.
Tell them to pull over as soon as they can, to an area that is higher than the street. Normally a parking lot will be higher than the street.
It's been raining hard here for a couple of hours. My property floods in the back, and we've just come in from the rain, clearing the sub-surface draining we had installed last year.
PS - unfortunately - when you live in an area that is below sea level, that is something you have to deal with whenever it rains hard, or for a long time.
Karen, do you know where general degaulle drive is? That is where they are stranded, just a mile and a half from the base I gather. From what our son is telling us they can't move the car because there are cars blocking them in all directions, my dil is frantic and i am frantic too because I do not know what to tell them. I called fox news and they said that their are cars stranded down there that the exit is blocked and the are going to be shooting footage when they can get through there. The police station is taking calls as they come in but according to them they don't have anyone down there yet. I am trying to call them as I type to tell them what to do but I can't get to them, they almost without a charge on their phone, for all I know the phone might've already lost it's charge. I am getting worried because it will be dark soon! Do you know if there are convenience stores close on that road or is it just a highway? I hate not being able to do anything for them! I know one thing we can do is get them a car charger so that they can keep the phone charged.
karen, thank you for your advice i passed it on to them. a friend of my son's came and got them, they had walked half way and the guy was scared to drive onto the road to get them but he did and they made it, they got home. then my son and his friend ent back down for the car, i guess he drove it through the water. i don;tknow how deep it was. we have told them ht they need to get their hurricane emergency kit together. they don't even own flashlight. I hope that this will be a lesson learned and they will get more prepared!!
General DeGaulle is on the westbank - I live on the eastbank (of the Mississippi River). I am really not familiar with the westbank at all. However, I do know that is an area where the streets are prone to flooding.
Living *down here*, your son and DIL are going to have to be aware that this happens often in the spring and summer. When it rains hard for a while, or rains for hours (it did both yesterday - something we haven't had in a while), many streets flood because the pumps simply cannot keep up with the amount of water in the roadway. Once the rain stops, or lightens up, the water tends to drain off fairly quickly.
The exit was likely blocked due to flooding on the road they were trying to reach. When this happens, it becomes a traffic nightmare, largely because a) people are stranded to begin with, b) people keep driving and stall out in the flooded roadway, c) the traffic becomes so congested as people keep edging closer and closer to each other and the median, etc. and d) accidents frequently occur. You have to understand, once a low-lying roadway becomes impassable, not only is the traffic on THAT roadway stuck with nowhere to go, but all the roads that are intersecting with that road suddenly have the same situation.
The best thing I can tell them is:
* Get a car charger for their phone
* Familiarize themselves with the areas they are driving
* Do NOT follow closely behind other cars when the weather situation is like it was yesterday
* Immediately start looking for a place to pull over BEFORE the roadway is totally flooded
* DON'T continue driving to try to leave the area unless you are positive you know that the road doesn't have a dip or lower spot.
Trying to drive on a road that is already flooded is dangerous. You don't know how quickly the water will rise, or if the road ahead is lower and the water deeper. You run the risk of flooding your car (like MY DH did), or at the very least, sitting there for hours until the water recedes. Again, *I* would start looking for a higher parking lot as soon as any flooding starts.
Also, they might want to keep a flashlight in the car, in case they are driving at night, and get a couple of cheap rain ponchos or something.
Though it IS serious when you are driving on a flooded road, it's not as awful as it sounds - I say that because I've lived here since 1967, been driving here since 1971, and am familiar with what happens when it rains here.
The area is below sea level and pumps are required to pump the water out of neighborhoods/off of roads, and they can only pump so many gallons per minute. If it's raining hard and long, the pumps can't keep up with the water, it accumulates and floods roads, and it just takes time for it to drain or be pumped away. They should be aware of that, and try to schedule things according to the weather. I'm not saying stay home every time it rains. But if they listen to the news/weather at all, they will soon learn to gauge for themselves whether or not there will be *just rain*, or rain that is enough to be concerned about. The local news stations normally do a good job of keeping the public updated when weather/rain is a potential concern, particularly possible road flooding situations. And as we move into hurricane season/summer, there is the likelihood of encountering just what they did yesterday, more often. We normally get quite a bit of rain in warmer months, and in the afternoons, when it's very hot all day, the chance for downpours is higher. Again, that doesn't mean this happens EVERY time it rains.
They just need to try to be prepared for it. If the news is forecasting weather like we had yesterday, stay home, if possible. That's what *I* did. LOL I needed to go to Sams and the grocery store, but I wasn't going out in the weather.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this information out for me. I'm going to read the entire posting to them so that they can soak up the information. We were basically in a panic up here and down there, I called a news station and a few other numbers to try to find out information, I looked at a few news stations online and didn't see anything on the flooding of streets due to the weather. It is totally something we aren't used to and getting call after call from my dil and ds who didn't really know what to do we were just not knowing what to do. We are ten hours away so we couldn't tell them much. I am so glad that you are down there and that I can ask you questions from time to time, I hope that you don't mind, with the hurricane season and all it gives me some sense of reassurrance, to know that I "know" someone down there. I will pass this information on to them. Thank you Karen, you are great!
Sounds complicated, but I guess we have the same situation up here, with snowstorms. Sometimes you just know you shouldn't leave the house and sometimes you figure it's okay.
With rain too. We were just about to leave the house to go out to eat for supper on Friday night. As I'm trying to motivate my kids to actually move, they announce a tornado WARNING for the next county to the west. Now, the next county over, is a LONG county and the tornado was in the northwest corner, and heading northeast, so I figured we weren't in danger from the tornado, but the weather here was really GNARLY at that point in time with FREQUENT lightning and I think torrential downpours. We ended up eating at home. With the possibility of a tornado being that close, and even as much as I wanted to go out to eat, leaving at that precise moment, seemed crazy!
Mapquest says that the tornado city was 72 miles away. Oh well. That is pretty far. It was still too nasty to go out and we were too hungry to wait until the storm was done!
You're welcome!
FYI, in case they are not totally aware, hurricane season is June 1 - November 30. The most active time is Aug/Sep., but that doesn't mean we can't get a hurricane any time during hurricane season. Tropical storms are likely as well, and even if a tropical storm or hurricane hits west of here, say in TX, the eastern side of the storm is normally where the rain is, and once it makes landfall, it will turn to the east, and the rain can really hit us hard. Years ago, we had a flooding situation here from a tropical storm that hit TX.
A few hints for them to start being prepared:
* Have flashlights and batteries available
* Have a battery operated radio or weather radio
* Have a supply of bottled water for several days
* Have a supply of non-perishable food for several days
* Have a first aid kit, stocked and readily available
* If a hurricane is approaching, refill all Rx meds before it is due to hit
* Know where you are going to evacuate, if an evacuation is ordered. If they can travel to a location where other family members live, that's great; otherwise they'll have to book motels - what we have done in the past is to book at LEAST one reservation once the storm is in the Gulf and predicted to head this way.
More great info, thank you! Their plan is to head up to Illinois which is where I live if a hurricane is in the forecast, I hadn't thought about a first aid kit thank you for reminding me of that. And also about making a reservation that is a great idea. I will pass this info onto them too.
Dawn, Mother nature is wonderful isn't it? I passed on all of this information to my dil who was totally not into watching the news,(before yesterday) I think she has changed her mind about that one though!!
One thing they might want to do is go ahead and make their 'hurricane box' now (or at the start of the season) rather than waiting till a storm is in the Gulf. Every season, I make sure I have a stash of candles, batteries, flashlights and at least a case of bottled water in my garage. The closer you get to a storm hit, the more the supplies are dwindled down.
LOL, No different then emergency kits for the snow or tornado months around here.. If we get predictions for either with in hours the stores are out of everything you just might need.
Even if she doesn't want to watch the NEWS she needs to find a weather channel, or a radio channel she tunes in every day. Computer access, weather bug... Something.
I guess they are getting a crash course on "readiness training"... I remember our first big snow storm after I moved into my own home, we lost power for several hours and I was so not prepared... I got a nice long lecture from my mom on keeping certain supplies on hand all year around...
True, an emergency kit for a storm is the same, no matter what or where. And they should definitely get that stuff together now, not later. The supermarkets and Sams will be OUT of water, flashlights, candles and a lot of non-perishable foods when/if a storm is actually predicted to head this way. It's crazy. If the weather service predicted a hurricane to make landfall, say on Thursday, Sams, WalMart and all the local grocery stores would put out their entire stock of flashlights, batteries (don't forget the batteries - the flashlights and/or radio won't work without them!), candles, bread, canned foods, water, etc. And the stores would have lines at the checkouts that would be an hour long, or more. People around here tend to freak out a bit if they think a storm is coming, and they all flock to the stores so they will be prepared. Even MINOR ones, and very often for storms that don't actually arrive. No one wants to be caught unprepared.
Something else I learned the hard way when it nears June 1, is to NOT keep a lot of meat, etc. in the freezer! When Katrina hit, not only was my refrigerator/freezer full of food, but we had an upright freezer that was totally full of shrimp, chicken, ribs, and beef. Not only did we lose a lot monetarily, but it took 6 months to get the smell out of the house, and we had to throw the upright freezer out. We also bought a new refrigerator/freezer this year because there was a lingering odor that was present sometimes in that.
More tips:
Make sure your vehicles are in good running condition - in other words, before hurricane season, make sure you have at least one vehicle that you can depend on for evacuation. And KEEP YOUR GAS TANK FULL! The gas stations are crazy too! Long lines, running out of gas, etc. So, fill up when it's still a hurricane WATCH as opposed to a WARNING. Actually, do ALL of the preparations BEFORE it becomes a WARNING.
Have CASH on hand. If power is down, credit and debit cards will NOT work, which could hinder getting out of the area to begin with.
If they plan to head to IL in case of evacuation, then they should decide which route they would be taking - keeping in mind that the weather could affect the best made plans. But they do need to have a route in mind, and pay attention to the contra-flow when that's instituted on I-10. Otherwise, they might end up heading in the wrong direction.
Also - *if* they have to evacuate to a motel for some reason, and if they have a pet, they will have to find a pet-friendly place, or ask when they make a reservation if they can bring their pet. Many places will waive their *no-pet* rules in the case of an evacuation.
We have a crate that holds flashlights, batteries, candles, etc. and we always keep several cases of water and paper towels available. I brought non-some non-perishable food items yesterday. Another thing to have on hand is Clorox or Lysol wipes and Purell hand sanitizer.
And speaking of flashlights/radios, we DID recently see a hand-cranked flashment, and will probably buy one.
You should copy this thread and email it to your DIL. :-)
Bobbi and Karen, I am reading this all to her over the phone, they haven't gotten internet yet, they don't want to pay the start up costs to get it up and running. I will print this all off and send it to her though!! Karen, I remember how you had lost the food in the freezer, I had forgotten however your nightmare in ridding your house of the smell!! Omg!! I too thought I had heard that they have hand cranked flashlights and radios. I didn't think about lysol wipes which i think that they already have, ( got a good deal at commissary case lot sale) I've been telling her to get prepared since this has all occurred, what a lesson here for them to have learned! Thank you so much...
Do they have cable TV? The Weather Channel is 18 on Cox, I think it's the same for that area. If not, then WWL, WDSU, WVUE, WGNO (TV) will give them access to weather reports. WWL has a channel on cable that constantly replays the latest news broadcast every 30 minutes, so if you miss the news/weather @ noon or whatever, you can watch it on channel 15 until the next regular broadcast, then it will start with that one.
Also, in an emergency, WWL radio on AM870 or FM105.3 will give them information - and when we are in a hurricane WATCH or WARNING, that is all that is talked about on TV or radio news, to the point of annoyance. LOL
Definitely print the info here out and mail it to them. If you want to email me, I will give you my phone numbers, if they want to call with other questions. Keep in mind though, I live a few miles west of the New Orleans airport, which is at least an hour from where they are, and I am not familiar with the roads or businesses on the westbank or around the NAS.
Karen I never thought about the food bit. We packed ours up and took it with us though, but we were going to family.
Another huge plus, buy some maps, not just the generic state map, but here in texas they have the backroads map, that we live by. If traffic sucks, you at least know if you have options. When people evacuated here there were 100 mile stetches that took in excess of 15 hours. We were able to get 300 miles in about 9 hours taking the back roads.
At the beginning of the season I pack up a "hurricane kit" or check it each year. We have some rubber gloves, some work gloves (you just never know), a few granola bars, bandaids, hmmm what else. But real specifically for my husband traveling home from work. He has been stranded at least twice in the past 5 years, it is just nice not to panic.
Our supply list is the same as karen's. The only thing I would add is, if they have canned goods, make sure they have a manual opener or easy open tops.
The food is if you ride it out and you have to eat out of your home with no way to cook. I certainly don't take food like that with me to evacuate.
Also we have lived here for a toal of 7 years (two different times). We have only had to evacuate once. We have only 3 or 4 times of panic. So this isn't a huge deal, just don't be stupid!
"So this isn't a huge deal, just don't be stupid!"
Exactly!
We took water and *some* food with us when we evacuated for Katrina. In other storms, we have either stayed here, and twice, we did *vertical* evacuations, in downtown hotels/motels. However, I think they are not allowing that since Katrina, and really, it's a bad idea, because if the city floods, as in the case of Katrina, you are STUCK.
Our parish, and certainly the lower lying ones, such as Orleans, Plaquemines, Upper & Lower Jefferson & St. Bernard, are more likely to call for evacuation than some other parishes, simply because they are surrounded by water.
There aren't really many back roads in this area. There are several ways to leave, and you really don't have much choice. And on I-10, once contra-flow is in effect, your choices are limited further until you're out of the New Orleans area.
I have sworn, that *if* we have to evacuate again, I will throw the food out rather than come home to the stinky, rotten, soupy mess we had to deal with after Katrina. 11 days of no electricity in a house that was probably over 100 degrees inside made for a nasty cleanup! LOL
Karen, yes they have dish network, they need to get accustomed to watching the news, listening to the radio, whatever so that they can be prepared and get the weather forecast. Everything that you've all wrote is so helpful I can't thank you all enough!
|
Members
