So we just gathered up whatever we could grab.
We didn't even bother to rescue anything.
You start to get a feel for the power that's
going on, that you're not going to be able
to stop this. It is just going to keep coming.
It's just a sickening feeling, your house
is ruined. You've got nothing. You know, it's
just devastating.
More than half of Californians believe that
earthquakes are their greatest natural disaster
threat, but in fact -- it's not earthquakes
or even wildfires -- it's flooding.
All of the kitchen nook area was piled, heaped
- the chairs. The refrigerator was in the
center of the room tipped over. The water
level here was above the windows, of course
all the way around. It was about, probably
nine feet deep.
The wall of water is devastating and I had
just built a new house. I was married and
had two children. My house was in 20 ½ foot
of water. It was 40 days before I got back
in there to clean it up what was left of it.
This was the house that we lived in and this
was right on the river. So when the river
came up the whole yard was flooded. We had
to tear out the walls, take up the flooring.
We've had pretty severe flooding in '69 and
then in the early 80's. The biggest one was
in '97 and we were out for seven weeks until
the water was low enough that they could repair
that break and we could get back in.
Since 1962 there has been a major flood somewhere
in California every single year.
The 1997 Central Valley floods alone caused
2.7 billion dollars in damage, 120,000 evacuations
and 9 deaths.
Yet, with all the risk and impacts from floods,
only 1 in 10 Californians have done anything
to prepare for extensive flooding.
I think it is very hard for people to keep
it in mind, with the cycles in our climate
here.
During the summertime, the river is really
a nice place. People are enjoying it. It can
really change when the water is rising.
Expect the river to misbehave. It will. It's
not if, it will.
Even if you don't live directly near a river
or a levee, the natural topography of California,
especially in the Central Valley, creates
many low-lying areas. This puts a lot of people
at high risk for flooding who may not even
be aware of it.
But many who have suffered great losses to
flooding, knew there was a risk, and were
still caught unprepared.
I think people just see a very nicely developed
bunch of houses and it won't affect them.
They wouldn't let you live there if it was
a problem, right?
I should have known better because I went
through the 1955 flood. I thought of all places,
why would it flood here? Live and learn.
I don't' think we had a plan for...
Evacuating? No.
Evacuating. We had just never considered that
a major issue even though we were on the river.
You lose stuff you can never replace, you
know. Once you go through a flood, you never
want to go through that again.
Take these simple steps to prepare yourself
and your family for a flood. First and foremost
learn about your flood risk by visiting California's
myfloodrisk website.
Have an emergency plan.
And consider buying flood insurance, whether
required for your mortgage or not.
Those who have lived through the devastation
of flooding offer these additional bits of
advice:
I'd recommend that they carry flood insurance
for sure.
But also to check and verify to find out if
they're truly covered.
Don't think you're perfectly safe.
If you live by that levee try to learn everything
you can about it.
Are they vulnerable to getting a foot of water
in their house or 5 feet of water in their
house, or what?. You know, they really need
to know.
Find out where it's going to break or if it
does break here, which direction you're going
to go.
All of the water that we have on the other
side of those levees at any given time of
year - it's just never safe.
What is the worst case scenario? It's the
classic line - hope for the best, but prepare
for the worst.
