Last night was terrifying
Went on a guys trip to Johnsons Shut-Ins the last week. Go ahead and Google what happened there last night. I don't really know the point of posting this here but I feel like sharing.
It started raining around 11pm. The tents held up fine for a while.
I remember waking up at one point to hard rain. I checked the tent but things seemed fine. That was probably about midnight or 1am. Around 2am I woke up cause something felt wrong. The tent was moving and shaking.
I opened the door and saw chaos. It was like looking at the sea in a storm, and I was being carried off by the rushing water. We were swept into a shelter, where I was able to find footing to grab my kid (I was telling "GET UP, GET UP NOW" the whole time) and toss him onto a table out of the water.
I managed to grab quite a bit from the tent and toss it on too and then wedge the tent between two trees.
I then saw the other tent from my group float past. I couldn't help them.
My kid is crying, a torrent of rising water is at my feet, and I spotted that the bathroom shelter nearby was higher up. I grabbed my kid and had to fight my way through the raging water worrying I'd drop him with any misstep. I made it across and we were the first ones there.
Slowly others came. First my FIL and then other campers tricked in. We didn't know what had happened to my bil or my nephew, just they they'd been swept away. My FIL had been sucked out of the tent when he opened the door.
Another family we could hear yelling across the water. A father and son stuck in the trees. They showed up later at the shelter, apparently the son had been pulled away from his dad but wedged on a tree and was able to escape. The dad went back to find the rest of the family. They were all ok.
A few hours later, my bil and his son showed up. They'd been pinned by the current to the trees for at least 2 hours. Hypothermic and exhausted, but safe.
Dawn came and the rain stopped. We gathered what ever else we could find and then left through flooded roads.
I'm glad you're ok. It was terrifying but you did the thing - you handled the crisis, got your kid to safety, helped the people you could in the moments you could.
Good job. Please take care of you now, that was a lot.
Thanks. I'm in the backseat with my kid sleeping next to me. I should sleep too.
Yes if you can, if you can't yet, then as soon as you're in a safe non-moving location and your brain can rest.
I'm so glad you and your family made it out safely!
Flash floods are some of the most dangerous events people will ever be exposed to. Things go from normal to life-threatening in seconds, with little or no warning. Having a flood wake you in the middle of the night is about as dreadful as anything I'd ever want to contemplate.
Kudos to you for keeping your head, but don't be surprised if you've got some PTSD stuff going on after that. I know it was a while before I went out in a sea kayak again after getting caught in a near-hurricane storm microcell, but that park looks too pretty to avoid forever.
I certainly have a new fear about camping during any stormy weather. It was a terrifying experience. I'd already been lecturing my kid about the power of water (we'd been kayaking and playing in the Shut-Ins all week) and this really drove it home.
I give my kid a lot of credit too - he listened, song exactly what I told him and when. He was in good spirits after even if he was terrified during.
Damn. I'm also glad you and your family are all okay. You did well, that's a terrifying experience.
I hope you're asleep right now, because you've definitely earned some rest!
Tried sleeping but I don't do well in the car sleeping. I still have many hours to go before I get home - good old Midwestern attitude about "well it's only 10 hours away by car".
Well if people are taking turns driving, maybe you can play Tetris? It does help mitigate PTSD, though not sure how soon you need to play it for it to have an effect.
Within several hours generally, but distraction, especially one that lets you fall asleep without trying is still good
I’ve never heard this, was there a study done?
It came up recently as a topic on tildes.
I've heard of it for a few years now. A quick search brought up this study from 2020, but pretty sure it's been discussed for several years.
Incredible story, just shows how things can go from 'this is ok' to an emergency very quickly. Scary stuff, happy to hear no one was lost. Good on you for keeping your head together and not panicking.
Sorry to be distracted, but googling shows a cliff death from 2023 and flood from a year ago? Anyone have a link?
A much more recent flash flooding, it's the first results if you filter by "news"
Drone reveals devastating flash flooding sweeping through southeastern Missouri with more rain to come
Dozens rescued during flash flooding in several Missouri counties
Conflicting information in the last one whether there is one remaining person missing or if she's gone missing after the flooding or if she's been found but it looks like almost everyone or everyone is safe
Hobofarmer don't watch the videos until you're ready
From what I've read, a missing girl was found deceased. I believe it's the only fatality so far.
That is tragic and also an amazingly low number given the amount of water and the damage done. Thank you for getting yourself and yours to safety.
https://abcnews.com/US/missouri-governor-declares-state-emergency-flooding-rain/story?id=134658727
Video of the flooding:
Missouri Campground Inundated By Extreme Flash Flooding
I just want to point out a few things -
This flood set a new river crest height record, beating the old one by over a foot. At least a 250 year flood event.
The storm itself was one of the most powerful that's torn through the area - it dumped over a foot of rain within 24 hours and it's being called a 1000 year storm.
I've only heard of one fatality so far. That's the most amazing part to me. I'm glad for everyone else who found safety.
The news keeps reporting these events as if they're mysteriously happening in isolation. Not as "more and more heat energy is accumulating in the climate system due to CO2, methane, and other atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. The weather is not behaving according to previous patterns. Severe weather events are just going to keep getting more chaotic and extreme until we fix what we broke."
That's crazy scary Hobofarmer
How are you holding up? And your son? I don't even know what kind of mental first aid needs to be administered after experiencing something like this but I hope you're receiving it
@DefinitelyNotAFae updating you too -
My son bounced back surprisingly well, though he unfortunately caught a stomach bug his cousin had on Monday. This was his first ever camping trip, and certainly one to remember. After I got him to safety, and we were warming up an a shower stall, he was smiling and trying to make jokes and keep spirits up. He's such a kind soul.
Myself, I keep seeing flashes of the event when I close my eyes. Rushing water. Lightning. My son crying on a tabletop. I don't think I'll ever forget it. I don't feel scared or panicked or otherwise distressed, just very grateful that I have him and everyone else in my family safe.
I cried on my way home the other day, had to stop the car. I don't cry often, it caught me by surprise.
I know I'll recover from this. My feelings about camping haven't changed - the outdoors are beautiful, but need respect.
Mother Nature doesn't fuck around.
Please, please, take care of yourself. I appreciate your core love of camping is still there but you're definitely experiencing the trauma. Kids experience and integrate stuff differently but a therapist could definitely help you catch if there are more subtle or delayed effects on the kiddo.
But I want to say again, you did the thing. Remember that when you're pulling yourself out of those flashbacks and those emotional moments. You did it.
I also recognize that I was extraordinarily lucky.
We floated directly into the only spot where there was firm footing (a concrete slab), cover from the rain (an overhead shelter), a stable high spot (a metal picnic table), low current (most of the water was going around the shelter), and things to hang on to. It happened to be the exact spot I was able to escape the tent. That water moved FAST and I think I went from dead asleep to awake and acting within seconds.
That confluence of factors is what enabled me to get my kid and I to safety quickly. I'm not a religious or superstitious man, I know I beat the odds. The rest of the camp wasn't so lucky - I will never forget the image of my family's tent floating by, still zipped up. They didn't get out until later and they missed the shelter.
For sure, there are dozens of factors at play in a situation like that and very few do you have any control over. I am just making sure you give yourself the credit for doing everything you could and did do in that moment. I think a lot of the time post trauma people will sort of intentionally or compulsively replay things trying to see what they could have done better. And a lot of people worry generally about how they'll handle a future crisis.
So I'm just acknowledging that, maybe for you if it isn't where your head is right now, but definitely to you.
Personally I prescribe milkshakes for you and kid, I think they help.( ◜‿◝ )♡
Thank you. I do feel I did everything right in that situation - I can't find any point where I could have done anything better.
Hugs to both of you, and hoping your son's stomach bug goes away quickly.
Here are a couple videos and a picture from that night.
The area as I pan the video right is where the rest of the family was swept into the trees. I managed to get out as I was going through the shelter.
/u/hobofarmer, I had cause to think of your situation this morning. My question is, were there any weather reports at all of the incoming storms?
As of yesterday, northwestern lower Michigan had two straight days of perfectly clear blue skies and baking hot weather. Several more days of the same were predicted, to the point where I nagged my spouse about fixing the cracked sprinkler head he'd been putting off because of consistent rain.
Imagine my surprise at 3:30 a.m. this morning when an almighty bang of thunder and howling winds rattled the windows. We received an inch of rain over the next two hours. I was the dubious beneficiary of two sopping wet cats huddled in my armpits, and I'll be cleaning up some downed branches and overturned patio stuff later.
The thing is, there was not a whisper about this event on the most accurate weather app I could find for the area (Wunderground, which uses NOAA + AI prediction + local amateur weather station data), or any of the local news services within the prior eight hours. The radar track for the storm covered a broad area, with dramatic storm cells. The winds would certainly have merited a small craft warning for the lakes, and that much rain probably caused flooding somewhere in town.
I know that NOAA has been downplaying the impact of its budget cuts on weather forecasting accuracy. Storms can arise suddenly, and not every severe event gets detected in time to issue appropriate warnings. I can't find hard data on how often this occurs, but it does seem like things have gotten worse since the DOGE cuts.
We knew that there was supposed to be rain/stormy weather but nothing like this. From everything I've seen it caught everyone wildly off guard. My phone received an emergency warning around 130am but I was dead asleep.
In fact I never heard any sirens going off at all. If we had gotten even a half hour of actual warning with sirens, things could have been so much better.
I didn't want to add to your trauma while it's still so fresh, but your situation was very reminiscent of the Camp Mystic disaster around the same season last year.
The claims have been made that it's very difficult to predict exact rainfalls and where flash flooding will occur, that people aren't plugged into channels where alerts are issued, don't take the warnings seriously, or are suffering from alert fatigue. I have to call b.s. because the wide areas of intense storms and the nature of the underlying terrain made flash flooding a region-wide certainty.
I can't believe how little public preparation is being made for the fact that our predictive models and data gathering aren't working well enough in the face of new climate conditions. Our emergency alerting systems aren't designed and focused on how to best mobilize people out of danger quickly.
FEMA has an app. Yay. /s
Edit: The work I do has me dealing with the human factors issues of alert fatigue in healthcare. I know there've been public complaints and concerns about "too many" different weather alerts, watches, warnings, etc. without concrete advice on what to do at each level of alert. As /u/hobofarmer mentioned, a local siren would have made all the difference, because of course people aren't paying attention to yet another cellphone noise in the middle of the night. There are emergency tornado warning/air raid sirens (Cold War leftover) all over the U.S., and it's surprising to me how rarely they're used appropriately. It's known that the Maui fires in 2023 might have been less devastating if the siren warning was given.
States also often let infrastructure like emergency sirens go, especially if they leave it to underfunded, rural, red counties that would rather lower taxes.
Meanwhile my small town sets them off at noon for a short blast each day
I'm old enough to remember actual public service messages on TV about what to do in emergencies, and those daily siren tests, but can't recall seeing or hearing anything like that in decades.
My best recommendation is to follow your local county Emergency Management Agency on social media. Ours is excellent at giving storm updates, weather alerts, and letting us know about siren tests and the like.
Most people aren't watching their local news anymore or even network over the air TV where those PSAs were getting air time. To be fair some of the general risk is reduced, we're a lot better at forecasting and tracking these events so it's less likely to get asked to shelter for a tornado across the county from you, but more likely for sirens to go off not just for a funnel cloud but for a particularly dangerous thunderstorm.
Thanks for that - my county EMA does SMS alert subscriptions directly from its webpage, so no dealing with Meta, et al. or keeping an AM radio around. I don't know that it will give me any more warning than the Wunderground app, but it's worth a try.
Yes! I also get text messages from the county, but I only get ones for the locations that I set. So for example my text messages are set for home but if I am out and about I still need a GPS based alert or a siren.
The reason I like what comes from their Facebook posts or whatever other social media, is that it is a lot of preparedness information. I easily get severe weather updates for a couple of days before the storm actually hits. So I make my plans with that information in mind.
Personally I use the weatherwise app, But I don't use it for real time alerts just for my own ability to watch a radar with as much detail as I want.
A simple weather radio is also a great idea, just letting it chill until the warnings go off.
My area has them go off 10am on the first Tuesday of the month. It's not that hard.