Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Tip of the Week for December 28, 2015

Floods and Landslides

Floods and landslides may go hand in hand and can be deadly.

What You Can Do:

• Learn about flood and landslide risks in your area by contacting your local emergency management office and looking at your local Hazard Mitigation Plan.
• Before you buy a home, check on the history of floods or earth movement in the area.
• Clear storm drains to prevent flooding and ground saturation close to your home.
• Turn around instead of driving through high water.  Water over the road can hide sink holes or other dangerous conditions and lead to drowning.
• If floodwaters rise near you and driving is dangerous, leave the car if you can do so safely and move to higher ground.
• Avoid walking through moving water.  It only takes a few inches of swift water to knock you off your feet.  Use a stick to check for sinkholes and the firmness of the ground.
• If a flash flood is likely, move to higher ground immediately.  Do not wait for instructions.
• Plant trees, bushes and other plants to decrease runoff.

Landslides:

• Landslides may move at avalanche speeds, rapidly wrapping up or crushing anything in its path.
• Or, they only move fractions of an inch in a year’s time.
• Steep slopes, saturated and weakened by water pressure or erosion, may give way to gravity.