Flash Flooding The Concern This Severe Weather Season

It’s Severe Weather Preparedness Week, and we talk a lot about tornadoes, wind, and hail, but we often overlook the possibility of flooding. National Weather Service Meteorologist Steve Runnels tells News Talk KZRG flooding could be a real threat due to a wetter than usual winter.

“That is definitely something that the National Weather Service is concerned about. The flash flood rainfall ios equally, or perhaps even more dangerous than any of those other things combined. When it comes down to it, throughout the spring time, it is the number one killer that we’re really watching out for.”

Since 2015, 34 people, which represents 87 percent of Missouri’s 39 flooding deaths, were people who had been trapped inside their vehicles.

Never drive through standing water. You can be swept off your feet in six inches of moving water, and two feet of water is substantial enough to float your vehicle. Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammer also reiterates that during flash flooding, the road can actually be washed away, so you never know what you could be driving into, especially on roads that you drive often and feel overly confident.