Seventeen inches of rain in 24 hours — that was the problem for Waverly, Tenn., recently. All the culverts and drainage ditches in the world won’t take care of that unprecendented amount of water for that area.
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CNN story highlights the impacts: “
‘Tidal wave’ of floodwaters overtook Tennesseeans in minutes and killed 21, including 7-month-old twins.”
I recently listed all the big disasters happening simultaneously. Waverly isn’t a big town, but for them this flooding was catastrophic in nature. These scenes are being repeated again and again. Up in the Northeast, they are digging out of Hurricane Henri’s rain and wind event.
I expect we will continue to have a cascade of disasters happening across the United States and the globe. Be prepared! Mitigate when and where you can.
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.
