Greetings, caring viewers, to this week’s episode of Planet Earth: Our Loving Home, the first in a two-part series on flood safety. Recently, due to accelerating climate change, massive floods have caused devastation in many countries around the world, and statistics show that damage and fatalities from these hydrological events are on the rise. Data from the World Health Organization reflects that flooding caused over 8,000 deaths worldwide in 2010.

From our experience with this Megi typhoon disaster, and the extremely heavy rainfall during typhoon Morakot two years ago, it seems that only effective evacuation efforts or disaster relief preparation can help us to save ourselves and minimize the loss of life and property when such disasters strike. Based on what is currently happening all over the world, this seems to be the only effective thing to do.

The experts featured on today’s show include Ken Worman, state hazard-mitigation officer for the California Emergency Management Agency in California, USA who has been involved in flood research, planning, preparedness and mitigation for 15 years. Director-general of the Taiwan Water Resources Agency Yang Wei-Fu and Yeh Tai-Xing the chief training officer for the National Fire Agency in Formosa (Taiwan) and a rescue training officer of the International Rescue Instructors Association will also provide advice on flood safety.

There are various kinds of flooding that we have here in California (USA). Riverine flooding is where, due to precipitation, the capacity of rivers and streams are exceeded. Therefore, they overtop those river courses that they normally flow through. Flash floods mean most of the time areas are dry but the amount of rainfall is so fast in such a short duration of time that a dry creek bed that wouldn’t seem to pose much hazard, turns into a raging torrent that causes lots of destruction, and it goes away real quick.

If one lives in a flood-prone area, personal preparation is essential. People should recognize flooding as part of their environment and take sound action to ensure their safety. Yeh Tai-Xing, called the “Father of Rescue” in Formosa (Taiwan), elaborates on this topic.

You have to start making preparations. What are the preparations? First, you must store some daily necessities at home, simple medical supplies, lighting equipment— a small flashlight would be fine, and very importantly, a small whistle that works. In case you are trapped at night, your whistle would let people notice you and thus receive help more easily.

Having a supply of water, food, batteries, a battery-operated radio so that you can get information about your situation that you might not be aware of because you’re isolated due to a flood cutting off communications from the rest of your neighborhood or your community.

There’s a phrase that we have, it’s “Preparedness for 72 hours.” Meaning, you’re on your own for 72 hours with your own supply of food, water, medications, batteries, and radios, because it’s not possible for overwhelmed government agencies to come in and save everybody. In the first 72 hours, there’re just so many people and you don’t know who needs what. So the goal is to get everybody prepared to last and survive on their own for the first 72 hours with these essential goods that they prepared themselves.

Before a disaster has a chance of striking, you want to move things to higher levels of the home, for example. Valuable records you wouldn’t want to store on a bottom shelf, because they might be destroyed by water that’s passing through. It might be only six inches of water passing through your home, but if you had stored important documents like that on a top shelf, you would not have any damage to them.

During normal times, before any disaster, typhoon, or heavy rainfall comes, we should always maintain the clearance of the sewage system in our immediate area, such as the drainage in front of our houses, before the typhoon season arrives. The general public should be able to clear the smaller sewage systems near their houses. The bigger sewage systems, of course, are maintained by our government, which is obliged to keep them in good condition.

Building a sandbag dike is one common way to protect one’s home or a building during a flood. Experts say that for structural stability, the width of the dike’s base should be 1.5 to three times its height.

Usually, you can get those at a local agency, sand and sandbags. But without knowing the proper way to fill it, how much to put in there, what you would be doing would be ineffective and wouldn’t work. So there are some simple techniques that people can follow, and that’s listed there in our “Fight Flooding at Home”(guide).

And it demonstrates something as simple as how to fill the sand, how to build a sandbag. There’s a specific strategy in how you fill it. For example, you don’t fill it all the way up; you leave some room in it in a strategic way to stack it, where it’s more effective, where it doesn’t topple over.

Suppose we are living in a low-lying area, perhaps in the cities, or perhaps there used to be floods in this area, or maybe we are living in the basement of a building, then we should prepare some sandbags before the flood season comes. Of course the sandbags can only stop minor floods. Water pumps and other apparatus are required for preventing bigger floods. Our government now is also encouraging the installation of water gates at the low-lying areas as a better water-prevention facility replacing the sandbags.

During a flood, securing the safety of electrical systems in the home is of great importance. If high water is approaching and you don't have to step in water or stand on a wet floor to do so, turn off electricity at the main breaker box, or pull out the main fuse, then take out each circuit fuse. If there is no water around, unplug all appliances.

Be sure not to use appliances, lights or outlets that have been wet or are submerged in water. Don’t step into a flooded basement or building unless you are sure the electricity is off. When you are outside, watch out for fallen power lines as they are highly dangerous. Any time you see a downed electrical line, you should assume that it’s live and don’t go anywhere near it. And it means don’t be standing in water that’s close to where an electrical wire is down, because it can conduct electricity and you might be electrocuted, even though you are not standing near or touching the wire itself. So you should always stay away from a downed electrical wire and never go near it. Notify the public officials of where you live, and it’s up to them to make sure that it’s turned off.

When a state of emergency is declared by a local government, how does the evacuation process proceed?

For example, a sheriff’s office may drive down roads of a community with loudspeakers telling people that it looks like flooding is imminent, and they’re recommended to evacuate their homes and get out of there, because there is no time to do anything else. Other times you might have a day or two warning, depending on the severity of the, say, rain that’s causing the problem.

Another tip regarding preparedness is to establish a disaster plan. Family members should gather to discuss the plan and list where to evacuate in times of flooding as well as vital phone numbers to call.

The other piece of that is having an evacuation plan for your family, and where do you get out? What if flooding is to occur and you were told by a local sheriff, for example, to evacuate your home. Where are you going to go? It’s best to figure that out before you have to get out, which might be in the middle of the night that a river is already topping its banks, and floodwaters are flowing towards your neighborhood. That’s not the best time to figure out what you are going to do. Have emergency contact numbers, in case you need to call family, because they might live in another part of the country, and they are trying to get hold of you.

Driving through flooded roadways is extremely dangerous. Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht, an expert on hypothermia, and a professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada states, “Each year, up to 10% of all drownings in North America occur in submersed vehicles, and one tenth of those involve motorists who intentionally drive into floodwater covering roads.”

Do not try to drive across a flooded road. One of the mistakes many people make is that they think they can get across a road that is flooded because it doesn’t look very deep, but what they don’t understand is the road base might have been washed away, and what looks like a shallow little trickle of water might actually be very deep. Their car will get stranded and cause further blockage of a flow of water.

In which case, what they should do is evacuate their car immediately and get out, because their car can become like a dam, builds up water and debris against it, and it will push a car off the road and down into flood waters. You should take the longer detour around. You’ll have a much better chance of getting home safely.

Recently, we have read many reports about people driving through flood waters or streams with suddenly rising water during a typhoon, and eventually becoming victims. If you are driving and your car is caught by suddenly rising water in a typhoon, or huge rain storm, sometimes you cannot prevent it because it happens suddenly. At such a moment, we advise you to keep calm, and wait until your car becomes stable after being carried away by the torrent, before you take any action.

Our sincere thanks Ken Worman, Yang Wei-Fu and Yeh Tai-Xing for taking time from your busy schedules to speak with us about practical tips for flood preparedness and response. Your extensive experience and insightful advice can save many lives.

For more information on the organizations represented by today’s experts, please visit the following websites: Ken Worman www.Hazardmitigation.CalEMA.ca.gov Yeh Tai-Xing www.NFA.gov.tw and www.IRIATP.tw Yang Wei-Fu www.WRA.gov.tw

Eco-conscious viewers, thank you for presence on today’s program. Please join us next Wednesday for Planet Earth: Our Loving Home and the final part of this two-part series on flood safety. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May Heaven bless us all with abundant love and peace.