If you find yourself having to evacuate ahead of a hurricane this summer there are four key things that you need to keep in mind:

• Pre-planning;


• Patience;


• Patience;


• More Patience

A major hurricane is bearing down on the East Coast of the US and millions will be evacuating ahead of the storm. Anyone who has tried to evacuate ahead of a hurricane can tell you that traffic conditions will be nightmarish. During hurricane Rita which hit the coast of Texas less than a month after Katrina struck New Orleans, state authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation for 1.2 million people who lived along the coastline but they didn't count on an additional 1.5 million evacuating as well. As a result, 2.7 million people clogged the interstates leading inland from the Houston-Galveston area. The resulting clogged roads took days to clear up and hampered the ability of rescue workers to provide needed services.

The storms can affect not only those who live along the coastlines. Some storms, long after being downgraded to tropical storm status, caused more death and destruction from flooding in the Appalachian mountains than they did on the coast.

Coastal Zones - For those of you who live in the path of these storms, the decision on whether or not to evacuate is something that needs to be planned well out in advance of the actual event. Many states provide hurricane preparedness plans on their state Emergency Management websites. Among the coastal states, the Florida Division of Emergency Management probably has the best hurricane preparedness plan. The Florida website allows users to plug in data about their families and specific needs and then provides them with a detailed plan showing evacuation routes out of their particular county and links to local emergency contacts, pet shelters etc. The plan also includes information on how to handle pets, water and food needs, and emergency preparedness kits. If your state doesn't have such a plan, visit the Florida website and use Dade county as your residence county to pull up a lot of valuable information.

Before evacuating, you should decide what you want to take with you and keep those items in a central, easily accessible spot. The Emergency Management websites contain lists of what should be included in your emergency evacuation kit.

You should carry enough cash to last for several days; ATMs may be overwhelmed or inoperative.

If you live in a mandatory evacuation zone, you should not hesitate to leave as quickly as possible. If you hesitate, bridges and causeways over intercoastal waterways and rivers may close early due to high winds and you could be stuck. Heavy traffic leading out of the evacuation area may back up preventing you from escaping in time. Those who wait too long may also find the roads flooded or blocked by downed trees and power lines.

Most states will close Interstate and major highways to traffic driving toward the coastal areas and open all lanes in both directions to outbound traffic only. Even with all lanes going in one direction, traffic will be very slow and tempers will be high. This is where your patience will be required.

Before you evacuate you should ensure that your car is serviced and has a full tank. Gas stations in the storm zone may close early and gas stations inland may quickly run out of gas. During your evacuation, you should never let your tank go below half full if you can avoid it. You never know when a collision or a tie up will keep you tied up on the road between exits for hours.

With the electricity out, traffic signals may not work. If you are on a secondary road and there is no power to the traffic signals, you should remember to treat an inoperative traffic light at an intersection as a four-way stop sign.
Police, National Guard and emergency personnel may be directing traffic. If that is the case, follow their directions over the directions of any traffic signals and do not argue with them. They have the full authority of law and they may know of traffic and road conditions ahead that you aren't aware of. You should also keep your radio tuned to those stations that are members of the Emergency Broadcast Network for updates on storm and traffic conditions.

Restaurants and gas stations in the evacuation path will be overwhelmed and may quickly run out of supplies. Also, you may not be able to easily exit an interstate highway once you are on it so you should take enough snack food and water to last for 12 hours or more.

Inland Areas – after the storm passes over the coastline it is still capable of producing torrential rains, tornadoes, and flooding. If you encounter flooded roads, do not try to proceed. Turn around and try to find an alternate route. When encountering flooded roadways remember:

• It is difficult to tell just how deep the water is on a flooded road and the flood waters may hide the fact that the roadway is washed out underneath.


• Even if it appears intact, the roadway could collapse under the weight of your vehicle.


• Less than an inch of water can cause a driver to lose control.


• As little as six inches of rushing water has enough force to push your car off the road.


• Your car can float in as little as two feet of water and you could be washed away into a flooded stream or river.


• In hilly or mountainous areas, flash floods can occur long after the rain has stopped and far away from the site of a rain storm.

Let's hope you don't have to evacuate but, if you do, a little pre-planning goes a long way.

Labels: flood roads, flooded roads, hurricane preparedness, hurricane safety, hurricane season

The spring/summer rainy season has started in some parts of the country and the summer thunderstorm season is near. With the rains come hazardous driving situations in the form of skidding and hydroplaning. Skidding and hydroplaning are two separate hazards but each has the same result and drivers who react instinctively could be headed for trouble while drivers, who have a plan in mind, can act correctly to avoid disaster.

Skidding – Skidding occurs due to slick conditions on the road whether it be rain, snow, sleet, or ice. While people tend to be more cautious when driving on snow and ice, they don’t seem to show the same caution when driving in the rain and that can have disastrous results. In the periods between rainfalls, oil and grease build up on the roads and the warm sun keeps the oil and grease in a liquid state. The most dangerous time for slick roads in rain is shortly after the rain begins and there is a thin layer of water on the roads. Once it starts to rain, the oil and grease float on top of the water creating a very slick surface. The roads are at their slipperiest within the first half hour after it starts to rain. Eventually, the oil and grease will be washed down the drains and the roads will lose that slick coating of oil but that is not the time to relax because, as the rains increase, the conditions for hydroplaning increase.

Hydroplaning – Hydroplaning occurs when there is standing water on the road and the depth is such that the car’s tires can’t squeeze the water out between the tire’s treads. If this happens, the tires will ride up on top of the water like a pair of water skis and lose all contact with the road. This can occur at speeds as low as 35 mph and becomes most dangerous at 55 mph or more.

Skid prevention – There are several things to keep in mind to prevent skidding or hydroplaning:

Tires – Few people realize that tires are the most important control device on your car. The steering wheel and brakes aren’t much good when the tires aren’t in contact with the road. Tires need to be kept in good condition and checked often for tread wear. There should be a minimum of 2/32 of an inch of tread depth on your tires. A simple way to check the depth is by sticking a penny between the treads. If the top of Abe’s head is visible, your treads are too thin and your tires should be replaced.

Brakes – Drivers need to be aware of the type of brakes they have on their car. There is a huge difference between standard brakes and anti-lock brakes when it comes to dealing with a skid.

• Standard brakes are not designed to stop your car in skidding conditions. When you lock up standard brakes, you are no longer able to steer the car. If you slam on standard brakes you are just going to make things worse and you could cause the car to careen out of control. If your car is equipped with standard brakes, DO NOT APPLY THE BRAKES until you have regained control of steering and your car has started to slow down on its own.
  
  
• Anti-lock brakes (ABS) are designed to prevent losing control of the car in a skid situation. They do this through use of a computer that detects when a tire is turning faster (trying to grip the surface) and applying pressure independently to each individual brake up to 20 times a second. This allows you to slow the vehicle while still being able to steer to avoid a collision. With the brakes pulsing that rapidly, the driver will feel a fluttering in the brake pedal. Unfortunately, many drivers, who are unfamiliar with ABS, feel this and think something is wrong and take their foot off the brakes. That is a big mistake! When applying anti-lock brakes in a skidding situation, you should expect to feel the brakes fluttering under your foot and understand that the system is operating correctly.
  

Cruise Control – Cruise control is a great system to prevent speeding (and getting a ticket) and to increase your gas mileage. However, you should NEVER USE CRUISE CONTROL IN THE RAIN! If your tires start to spin, the cruise control will detect this and will try to correct it by increasing the speed. That is the last thing you want to have happen in a skidding situation.

Recovering from a skid – Whether you are skidding on slick streets in light rain or hydroplaning through deep standing water, the method of recovery will be the same. If you feel your car start to skid:

Take your foot off the gas! Again, you shouldn’t be using cruise control.

If your car is equipped with standard brakes, do not apply the brakes. If you were applying the brakes when you started to skid, take your foot off the brakes.
If your car is equipped with ABS, apply firm pressure to the brakes. You will still maintain control of steering while the brakes are applied.

Steer the car in the direction of the skid. In other words, if the rear of your car is skidding to the left, turn your wheel to the left. Try not to look at the hazards but instead, look at where you want to steer the car and keep steering in that direction until you have regained control of the car.

Once you have regained full control of steering and the car has slowed on its own, you may be able to apply standard brakes effectively to bring your car to a stop.

Here are a few additional tips for Driving in the Rain and Sleet.

Labels: driver education, driver safety, flood roads, flood waters, hazardous roads, hydroplaning