Bugout route maps

[LowKey]

So we had a little water here in the Northeast last weekend that still hasn't gone away. Some neighborhoods near the coast were evacuated.

I found out last night that the rivers hadn't crested when I left for work in the morning. There was only one open bridge to get back to my house and it took me 4 hours to find it with all the other people clogging the back roads. I have a friend in a town a little further north whose neighborhood is an island and he can't get out with a car. I can't say that in 40-odd years I've ever seen so much water stay so long.

This is just a little reminder to check your escape routes. Are the roads passable in a flood? Will you know in time to get out? Perhaps an indicator on the bank of a river that once water gets to it, it's time to get out. And do you have alternates when the traffic gets bogged. Even back roads you didn't think anyone knew about can get hammered, as I just found out.

Sorry if this is obvious. I thought I was pretty good at reading the local rivers after all this time. Guess not.

Didja stay dry Ken?

[crashdive123]

Always a good reminder. The nickname for Jacksonville is The River City.

[LowKey]

What's crazy, but not unusual in this state, is they only focus on the Boston area. And the water didn't stop rising when the rain did so people got complacent. Now they are stuck. I'm still looking for a second way off this island myself, in case the first one goes. Though with the finally nice spring weather, wouldn't mind being uh...stuck at home...

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

Been there before! The Pocalla swamp and Green creek flooded never saw it coming and only once in 20 yrs. LOL! I just motored through...I had a monster truck at the time...but not anymore...good reminder!

[Sarge47]

I've met some farmers who have to park there vehicles out on the road because the creek that runs UNDER their drive-way will rise way above it during flood season. I live about 45 miles from the Mississippi River & that river likes to rise waaay over the levies! It's a good reason to keep a boat handy, huh?

[COWBOYSURVIVAL]

I've met some farmers who have to park there vehicles out on the road because the creek that runs UNDER their drive-way will rise way above it during flood season. I live about 45 miles from the Mississippi River & that river likes to rise waaay over the levies! It's a good reason to keep a boat handy, huh?

Wonder which boat I should take hmmmm! Kidding, but I have'em if I need 'em!

[welderguy]

I have three high water crossings at the house Im at now, so if it goes to flooding Ive only got one way out by vehicle. So im kind of stuck with what planning I can do as far as bugout routes go.

[Rick]

We've reclaimed so much land from the creeks and rivers that rain isn't the only concern. A breech in a dam or levee caused by groundhogs or just old age could be catastrophic. So your reminder is excellent.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Do you have national flood insurance? Home owners insurance does not cover floods.

Are you located in a flood plain?

Are you downstream from a dam and is it a high-hazard or significant-hazard potential dam as designated by the National Inventory of Dams (NID) or the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO)?

Are the furnace, water heater, and electric panel elevated if your home is susceptible to flooding?

Have "check valves" been installed in sewer traps to prevent flood water from backing up into the drains of your home?

Have levees, beams or floodwalls been constructed to divert or stop flood waters? Especially important if you live downstream from a dam or levee.

Have basement walls been sealed with waterproofing compounds to avoid seepage?

If you live in an area of possible flooding do you have a submersible pump to mitigate damage?

Just some things to think about.

[Ken]

Didja stay dry Ken?

I was in the middle of a response to this last night and the phone rang. I grabbed the phone and sprawled out on the couch during the call. I was fast asleep about 2 minutes later.

The same forum member (who shall remain nameless) called me back just after midnight. I appreciate that second call, because otherwise I wouldn't have carted myself off to bed and would have woken up this morning all twisted and sore on the couch.

LowKey, I got through this last bit of weather without a drop of water in the basement of either house. Only a few very small branches came off the trees. No flooding down my way. Honestly, I can't figure out why, because it rained like hell for days.

The flood escape map is a great idea. My Mass house is just two up from the river, and there's also a major brook that runs a couple of hundred yards away on the opposite side. Both have caused roads to be impassible. However, there are two other ways out that stay high and dry.

The R.I. house is near the ocean and some streams, but it sits on relatively high ground. We're surrounded by tidal water on three sides, a mile or so in one direction and a few miles in the others. If I had to bug out, the LAST thing I would do is travel on the routes marked with evacuation signs, because the dummies who charted THOSE routes couldn't have consulted a topo map during their planning. However, I DID, and there are three other paved routes to get out of Dodge that are all pretty likely to be open, light on traffic and passable in all respects unless Noah builds another arc.

One word of caution to everyone: DON'T place blind faith in marked evacuation routes. All too often, they're mapped out by people who have no clue about what they're doing. I reviewed (officially) several back in the '80s, and found a ton of things that were overlooked in many. Yeah, I wasn't all that popular (like I am here! ) with the planners, but let's just say that some of those maps got changed quite a bit right after my comments were made to FEMA and MEMA.

[Rick]

Your Memaw was in charge of evacuation routes? Cool.

[Ken]

One more thought. If you haven't done so already, familiarize yourself with the topography of your area. The best way to describe our topography here is "ocean, hills, rivers, streams, and ponds."

Everything here drains to the ocean, and many of our roads, even the "inland" ones, go from sea level to 100 ' - 200' and back to sea level in much less than a mile. Many of our roads run close to or along rivers and streams, and most folks never consider that that "safe" inland road could very well be underwater under the right (wrong?) conditions.

Get a topo map for your area. Study the roads, elevations, and water courses near roads. You may be surprised to learn that even a "far off" stream or river will make a road impassible under flood conditions.

This is where I am.

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[Ken]

Body Found in Flooded Office as Teams Assess Damage

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/reg...ome&position=4

[Sourdough]

One more thought. If you haven't done so already, familiarize yourself with the topography of your area. The best way to describe our topography here is "ocean, hills, rivers, streams, and ponds."

Avoiding natural passage traps. Anchorage, Alaska has only one semi-viable exit route; and that is north. The north route would be void in earth quake because of bridge destruction, and the flats just north of Anchorage are at sea level.

Going south would be an awesome trap, as there is shear vertical wall on one side and shear drop to the ocean on the other, and most of this is only one lane south. Rock slides, or just one accident often closes the road for six hours.

[Ken]

Sourdough, some of those evacuation plans I mentioned called for about 1 Million people to evacuate ONTO Cape Cod.

There are only two vehicle BRIDGES spanning the canal.

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Here's what the "Normal Weekday Off-season" traffic looks like:

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[Ken]

And one more note..........

Moving another 1 Million people to the Cape would take days under the best conditions and would guarantee that all available shelter would be overwhelmed and that all available food would be consumed in a couple of days. Resupply is inconceivable.

Just remember that if you ever choose to believe that you can rely on government planning to save your @ss.

[Winnie]

This is all a huge learning curve for me and until I joined the forums not something I paid any attention to whatsoever, I do now. I'm lucky in that I live on a rise of ground, so the house won't suffer. The road a 1/4 of a mile either side of me is a different story however. It floods both sides and has done this winter, not severely so but it's something I'm aware of. You all know I can't drive so my escape route is up the hill to higher ground and a hike out along the ridge from there, should the need arise.

[Ken]

http://www.mountaintek.com/cgi/comme...y=TEERAINNAVNC

http://www.amazon.com/MyTopo-Terrain.../dp/B00029TO8I

[hunter63]

"The Place", our cabin is located on a river that floods quite often.
Cabin it self in up 3 levels from the water, so no danger there, but the roads and bridges do get flooded, so that is a concern, coming and going.

We also have an "escape problem" here in south east Wisconsin, as a river with limited bridges, also floods.
But the big problem is road construction that is cutting many routes out of here, by blocking access, to underpasses, and on/off ramps on the "I" road.

So, besides watching your weather road reports, mind the construction as it changes daily.

[LowKey]

If you need a sump pump. Get two.
I have a battery backup on mine too.
Luckily, or not, the ground was still frozen here so the water all ran off, not in.
Some of my coworkers further south still have flooded basements.

[Ken]

And a high water alarm that gets triggered when the sump pumps start up is kinda' nifty as well.