LETTER: Water, water everywhere
As recently shown in Texas and New Mexico, flash floods can be deadly. Near Kerrville, Texas, the Guadalupe River recently rose 26 feet in roughly 45 minutes, killing more than 120 people and leaving more than 150 people still missing. Days later, the Rio Ruidoso River in New Mexico rose 20 feet in roughly 30 minutes, claiming three more flood victims.
With little warning, Mother Nature can dump a sky full of water whenever and wherever she pleases. If it happens to fall upstream in water near you, be prepared. Just six inches of rushing water can knock human adults off their feet and render them helpless in a heartbeat.
How close do you live to running water? What matters may not be how close in terms of miles, but in terms of elevation. Download a free elevation app to your cellphone. Learn the elevation of the nearby streams or rivers, your home and places you frequent. The less those differences in elevation, the more you need to plan for a quick escape to somewhere higher.
The closer you live to the water level, the more important it is to share your new flash-flood awareness with your neighbors.
