Severe Weather Preparedness Week is wrapping up in Tennessee, and we've already seen some flooding in our area the past few days. We have advice from Hamilton County Emergency Management in the event you are stranded in a rural area without service or don't have a phone.
Even if you don't have service, all phones still have the ability to call 911. If you don't have a phone with you, turn on your hazards so someone may see you. And if the water is rising, crawl out the window and walk to help or higher ground.
When water is on the roads, driving into flooded water is the single worst decision you can make.
"Not only does it put yourself at risk, it puts your family at risk, but then it also it puts your vehicle at risk,” said Amy Maxwell, the Public Information Officer with Hamilton County Emergency Management.
Maxwell also says it's easy to misjudge the depth of the water, particularly early in the morning or late at night.
"It is dangerous to try and drive through flooded streets if you don't know how the deep the water is. I mean the road might be washed away,” she told us.
If you do find yourself in a situation where you are stuck and don't have a phone with you, remain calm and turn on your hazards and headlights.
"If the water is not above the waist level, you should be able to automatically lower your powered windows,” Maxwell said.
Then you can swim to higher ground and wait until you can get help. Do not stay in your car or sit on the roof of your car.
"There's no reason to stay in a flooded vehicle mainly because we don't know if rising waters are going to occur,” Maxwell said.
The Tennessee Valley is headed into the months where we see the most severe weather. And Maxwell says flooding is the number one cause of deaths in weather-related events, so they encourage everyone to act wisely and avoid dangerous situations.
We can't stress enough the importance of 'Turn around and don't drown.'
