Watch out for those washes!

[RugerHound]

Terrible tragedy up at the Az/Utah border - 18 people (mostly women/children) lost in a flash flood last night.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/16/utah-flash-floods-kill-six-people-seven-others-missing/?intcmp=hpbt2

When I was working in the field, I used to take some shortcuts getting to one compressor station or another... I once crossed a dry wash in the middle of summer with the sun shining & storm clouds 30 miles away, and barely made it through. When that wall of water comes, it's gonna take everything in its path. The back of the truck was just starting to come around when I jammed it in 4WD Bull Low and hauled it out of that place. I was off in the middle of nowhere and it would have been weeks before anyone found the body if I'd gotten washed away.

Be careful out there in the desert folks!

 

[contender]

Amen.

 

[tinman]

When I was making regular trips to Tucson I frequently saw vehicles buried in washes, in town.......that were not there on my previous visit. It'll make ya think..... :shock:

 

[Busterswoodshop]

It happens to someone every year.
I have seen more than my share of people caught in flash floods.

I remember July 26 , 1981 in Redington Pass just outside of Tucson.
There was around 150 people playing and swimming in the canyon.
A flash flood came down the canyon without warning and washed 5 people over the falls killing them on the rocks below.
Another 3 drowned.
It not only caught the people there to have fun by surprise.
The Pima County search and rescue was in the canyon rescuing a swimmer that dove of the walls onto some rocks.
They were almost washed over also.
The helicopter pilot noticed it first and tried to warn people but it was to late.
In the canyon you could not see a cloud in the sky.
Miles away up in the mountain it was raining.

 

[bogus bill]

We live at Cedar City, 48 miles north of Hilldale. I heard the federal warning buzzer on the radio probably just before it happened. Someone in the news said a factor might have been that the Polygamist`s aren't allowed to have radio`s. Maybe, but I doubt it. I notice many have $50,000 trucks and a lot have CB`s etc. I was in Willow Creek California in 1964 when a flash flood wiped out a big part of the town. It was very impressive. I pulled up to a bridge, hesitated to use it and it was destroyed as I watched.

 

[Pat-inCO]

When I was working in the field, I used to take some shortcuts getting to one compressor station or another... I once crossed a dry wash in the middle of summer with the sun shining & storm clouds 30 miles away, and barely made it through.

Tucson has much the same thing . . . in town. :shock:

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

We've lost a number of people around here in flash flooding incidents over the years. Though a few present the sudden wall of water situation, more often than not people get in trouble trying to cross what they think are just low spots in the road with water moving over them. The rescue teams, first responders and such constantly remind folks it can take as little as about six inches of water moving at the 30 mph or so it often is to wash away a vehicle.

A fellow down the street has a home out in the high desert, and has been involved in a couple of rescue/recovery operations there. One he told about involved just that proverbial six inches or so of water. The car was recovered nearly five miles downstream from where witnesses said it was swept away, smashed beyond recognition, and to the best of my knowledge, the driver's body was never found.

What makes it bad around here, and probably anywhere subject to flash floods, is people are always in a hurry. Yet the fast moving water seldom lasts that long, sometimes just a few minutes. I saw one place where a lady had died, a day or two after it happened, and you'd never know there was ever ANY water there. The friend I was visiting, who lived in the area and worked just a couple of blocks away at the time, told me even an hour later it looked just as dry. So it should be no big deal to simply wait it out. But folks HAVE to get wherever they're going... and too often don't make it at all.

Rick C

 

[Colonialgirl]

I seem to recall that in the '70's it was sometimes almost impossible to get from one side of Phoenix to the other side after a rain storm; ALL those "dry" washes seem to fill right up and go right over the roadways.

 

[contender]

"is people are always in a hurry. So it should be no big deal to simply wait it out. But folks HAVE to get wherever they're going... and too often don't make it at all."

These two comments above say a lot.
It's not just the sudden, fast moving water,,, bet we see this every day in traffic.

People "in a hurry" or "Just have to turn there" no matter what.
Just yesterday, on a 4-lane,, with 2 additional turn lanes to the left I saw the following;
A 20-something woman, in the far right lane suddenly stand on her brakes, almost causing me to rear-end her, dive left, not just one lane but all 3 of the other lanes. She went from the far right, into the far left, causing several folks to almost wreck. The left turn was into Wally-World.
She could have EASILY gone through that light, worked her way no farther than 1/4 mile, & moved over safely. During that 1/4 mile, she had 2 more lights, and 2 more places she could have turned left, crossed over & gotten into the opposite side 4 lane to safely get to Wally World. I'm SURE that whatever she needed there would have still been there 2-4 minutes later than she got there.

People are impatient, & fail to recognize the dangers of water, wind, & other traffic.

Whenever I have camped out along ANY possible waterway,,, I look at the high water marks around, then move several feet above that "just in case." Sudden high water, or walls of water from a storm uphill from you can & will kill you.

 

[DeletedMember275]

"is people are always in a hurry. So it should be no big deal to simply wait it out. But folks HAVE to get wherever they're going... and too often don't make it at all."

These two comments above say a lot.
It's not just the sudden, fast moving water,,, bet we see this every day in traffic.

People "in a hurry" or "Just have to turn there" no matter what.
Just yesterday, on a 4-lane,, with 2 additional turn lanes to the left I saw the following;
A 20-something woman, in the far right lane suddenly stand on her brakes, almost causing me to rear-end her, dive left, not just one lane but all 3 of the other lanes. She went from the far right, into the far left, causing several folks to almost wreck. The left turn was into Wally-World.
She could have EASILY gone through that light, worked her way no farther than 1/4 mile, & moved over safely. During that 1/4 mile, she had 2 more lights, and 2 more places she could have turned left, crossed over & gotten into the opposite side 4 lane to safely get to Wally World. I'm SURE that whatever she needed there would have still been there 2-4 minutes later than she got there.

People are impatient, & fail to recognize the dangers of water, wind, & other traffic.

Whenever I have camped out along ANY possible waterway,,, I look at the high water marks around, then move several feet above that "just in case." Sudden high water, or walls of water from a storm uphill from you can & will kill you.

I disagree; people are just STUPID. Some of them get taken out of the gene pool before they can breed, but nowhere near enough.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I disagree; people are just STUPID. Some of them get taken out of the gene pool before they can breed, but nowhere near enough.

Besides the hikers that had been warned and should have been paying close attention to the weather the others in or near towns didn't look stupid to me. They got taken by surprise by something they hadn't seen in a very long time. It's hard to predict how hard a rain will be. Could have happened to anyone anywhere. :shock:

 

[mohavesam]

Some are quick to blame the victims, call them stupid or whatever - the victims in the AZ town were not tourists or city people in their mortgaged new designer SUVs, they were women and children returning home from a day at the park. They lived there, and were no strangers to fast-flooding. But the thing is no one knows just how much water is coming - water washed down from canyons and gullies miles away that have been dry for hundreds of storms, just unpredictable by definition on that sad day. One thing city people don't understand is that most roads are absolutely full of hills and dips, and any dip in the road can be a death trap even under sunny skies.

Witnesses said they were backing away from the wash, trying to get out and get to higher ground. But the wash filled from a trickle to a raging river full of logs, fences, wire and brush and spun the Suburbans they drove until they flipped. Children and hardy women who lived there and knew how to drive 4WD trucks in the high desert.

Curb the enthusiasm to blame and point fingers. The definition of a fool is one who says "That would never happen to me".

 

[Jeepnik]

When I was stationed in the SoCal desert, this type of thing happened a few times every year. I'm not sure what goes through the head of folks that seem to have it together when they see "just a little bit" of water crossing the road that dips through a wash. But, can't believe they are all stupid. Maybe it's some primal thing to prove they are stronger than nature. They loose, every time.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Getting caught in a wash by accident and trying to drive through a running wash are two different things.
It can be a clear day where you are and raining 50 miles away when some washes flood.
Trying to cross a running wash is not very smart.
We have a law here called " The Stupid Motorist law " just for people that intentionally try to cross a running wash.
They will fine you and make you responsible for any rescue or retrieval costs.

Another thing people don't seem to realize is that the wider the water gets , the deeper it gets.