There are two different types of floods and each one comes with its own challenges when trying to prepare.  The first type of flood is a flash flood and it these typically are very fast rising waters which can sneak up on people in dry river beds, gullies, drainage ditches and even roads.  They consist of fast moving water that typically carry with it rocks, logs and other dangerous debris that can kill you or at least injure you or your companions.  If a flash flood warning is issued, seek higher ground immediately.  Sometimes the first sign of a flash flood is the wall of water. Flash floods happen where ever large amounts of water are channeled into smaller tighter areas.  The dangers of flash floods are that they happen very quickly without warning even without any signs of rain.  For something like this you need to stay out of dry river beds etc but your home and such aren’t really threatened by this in most cases so you won’t need any supplies other than a good swimming technique and the simple mind to not get yourself in situations where you might get hit by a flash flood. 

The other type of flood is just your standard flood and while you have plenty of warning typically they are very difficult to prepare for.  The beauty of this type of flood is they should rarely be deadly as long as you prepare accordingly.  It should be easy to stay dry in event of a slow moving slow rising flood.  However you can either pack up your stuff and leave and surrender your home.  (which can be replaced.) or you can sandbag your home and hope you can beat mother nature. If you decide to leave or wait it out in your home you need to try and move all the essentials intot eh highest part of the home.  If you have a two story home, move everything up stairs before the flood gets there.  If you don't have a two story home move everything you can to the attic and remember the only thing that can't be replaced are lives.  In most floods you will have plenty of time to pack of the family pictures and the very few things that can't be replaced. 

If you do decide to sandbag make sure you use sandbag as well as water proof sheeting to make your sand bag berms most effective.  The best way to do this is to start you sand bag pile and then once the pile reaches the desired water proofing height put some plastic water proof sheeting and then additional sand bags on top.  This isn't necessary but it will help.

A few things to remember that might help you survive a flood...

Remember, it only takes about 6 inches of fast moving water to knock most people off their feet and sweep them away.  If you must enter flood waters then make sure they aren't moving.  A foot of water will float most vehicles and two feet or rushing water will sweep away almost all vehicles.

We have collected a kit of equipment you will need to survive most floods.  We have collected all the survival equipment in one convenient location for your shopping needs.  Most people just don’t have the time to do the research and find the best products so we have done that for you.   When a flood hits you don’t exactly have time to go shopping and do research. Below are our favorite items for when any flood hits but you can find a more complete list of our products in our survival supply store.