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I live in central Iowa.&nbsp; Naturally, like much of America, I felt inclined to take a dive into total solar eclipse madness&hellip; after all, I was only 3.5 hrs&rsquo; drive to the north.&nbsp; Probably like more of America than Americans would admit, I made my travel plans at very nearly the last minute.&nbsp; That part worked out pretty well, because I ended up having what was really a pretty...">
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				<section>
					<h1>Flash Flood Eclipses Eclipse</h1>

<p>
  <br><a href="/the-counterfear-blog/" title="More Articles">&raquo; More articles</a>
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<span class="date">Wednesday, August 23, 2017</span>

<h2>The Eclipse</h2>
<p>I live in central Iowa.&nbsp; Naturally, like much of America, I felt inclined to take a dive into total solar eclipse madness&hellip; after all, I was only 3.5 hrs&rsquo; drive to the north.&nbsp; Probably like more of America than Americans would admit, I made my travel plans at very nearly the last minute.&nbsp; That part worked out pretty well, because I ended up having what was really a pretty divine eclipse-viewing experience. &nbsp;Which was good, because the unexpected flash flood that night was not unremarkable, and the balance was helpful on the long drive the rest of the way north.</p>
<p>The adventure began Sunday, on a sunny drive down from Iowa. &nbsp;I&nbsp;ended up crashing Sunday night with a coaching colleague in Kansas City, KS, and <a title="Embracing Chaos:  Road Trip to the Eclipse" href="/the-counterfear-blog/road-trip-to-the-eclipse/">getting up super early to head to Liberty, MO for the big event</a>.&nbsp; We were so ahead of traffic that we had time for a pit stop at a Starbucks before arriving pretty early at our pre-chosen (and pre-reconned) winery.&nbsp; We had enough time to unload and haul all of our sitting-around-outside gear to an ideal spot in front of the main building before it started sprinkling.&nbsp; With incoming cloud-to-ground lightning.&nbsp; We actually managed to secure our stuff under plastic and a huge umbrella we had on hand before the total downpour.&nbsp; And I do mean total downpour &ndash; like for a <i>while</i>.</p>
<p>Not to worry.&nbsp; As we were so early, we found ourselves a small room in the neat old building and settled in.&nbsp; We had electricity, air conditioning, a fan, and plenty of space.&nbsp; The winery started serving wine at 10 a.m., and we were all set.&nbsp; Considering that they hadn&rsquo;t charged for parking, it seemed the least we could do.</p>
<p>I say all of this to describe the exquisite bounty we found ourselves in.&nbsp; As the morning and the rain wore on, more and more people filed into the building.&nbsp; We tried to get others to settle in to our room as well as they checked out its antique furnishings, but they found other spots&hellip; many of which were similarly intriguing.&nbsp; A few intrepid families made the best of their SUVs in the rain outside&hellip; perhaps surprised at the sheer persistence of the storm.&nbsp; It just kept on.</p>
<p>Not long before the eclipse was to start, I kid you not:&nbsp; the sun broke out.&nbsp; It was amazing.&nbsp; We had half-joked earlier that we had each done some praying and shaman work and whatnot so that we&rsquo;d have clear skies for the big event.&nbsp; And here we had clear skies.&nbsp; Whether all of the hoping and praying paid off or not we&rsquo;ll never know, but it was absolutely gorgeous outside.&nbsp;</p>
<p>We got settled outside not long before the eclipse action started to get interesting, and we had an absolutely stunning eclipse experience.&nbsp; My friends and family scattered about just 50 miles to the north had clouds obscuring the view.&nbsp; We felt bummed for them &ndash; but also incredibly grateful for where we were.</p>
<p>Perhaps equally stunning was this:&nbsp; just as we hit traffic after packing up, another thunderstorm rolled in.&nbsp; We literally had the perfect weather window.&nbsp; It stopped raining again as we unloaded gear and loaded our respective vehicles, including one with firewood from a neighbor.&nbsp; I love that so many women I know have SUVs, and use them.</p>
<p>Smooth sailing all around.&nbsp; Eclipse accomplished.&nbsp; This was good, because the rest of the day was much more of a weather adventure than I prefer.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Hail</h2>
<p>I left Kansas and headed toward the Kansas City airport for a spontaneous dinner.&nbsp; A colleague from Massachusetts was in town for the day, and we managed somehow to coordinate dinner plans.&nbsp; Enroute, I drove through an incredible hailstorm.&nbsp;</p>
<p>I thought I had driven through hail before, but I was wrong.&nbsp; This was stunning.&nbsp; Ha!&nbsp; See what I did there?&nbsp; It was <i>impactful</i>. &nbsp;Fortunately, not so much that my Jeep was noticeably impact<i>ed</i>. &nbsp;Including the windshield - a near miss, as far as I can tell. &nbsp;But driving on the freeway was fairly dangerous.&nbsp; I did not get dead, but I did get stressed.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>The Flash in &ldquo;Flash Flood&rdquo;</h2>
<p>The freeway danger is relevant because after dinner, it was storming like a hurricane &ndash; except that they don&rsquo;t have those in Missouri.&nbsp; I had driven around in a Category 3 hurricane in Virginia once, and it was raining and blowing WAY harder than that hurricane where I was in Kansas City.</p>
<p>I thought I could maybe wait out the near-hurricane in a parking lot, and caught up on my eclipse texting.&nbsp; In something that looked like a lull, I headed out on a back road to get back east to the interstate that would take me north to Iowa.&nbsp; After my earlier freeway hailstorm experience, a back road seemed likely to be less intense.</p>
<p>Nope.</p>
<p>The side road was flat-out treacherous. &nbsp;I realized it about five minutes in - when it was too late to turn around. &nbsp;I was driving straight north into the wind and rain for the first part, and then along super windy roads.&nbsp; I could only reasonably go 10-15 mph &ndash; if that.&nbsp; There was nowhere to pull over, or to turn around.&nbsp; The ditches were full of water.&nbsp; There was zero visibility.</p>
<p>As I was realizing the scope of the situation, I drove over a small downed tree across the road.&nbsp; This was okay, because I do have a Jeep &ndash; and know how to drive it.&nbsp; The four wheel drive had been in use since leaving Kansas.</p>
<p>Just after the tree, I came to my first creek flooding across the road.&nbsp; I was upon it before I could avoid it &ndash; and even if I had seen it first, there were not a lot of options.&nbsp; It was on a blind curve in both directions, and turning around may have been almost as dangerous as crossing it.&nbsp; I did manage to slow down a bit, but it was deep enough to nearly flood the engine.&nbsp; I crossed several more streams before hitting a less-backroads-type backroad.&nbsp; Had I needed to keep going north, I&rsquo;d have made it only 50 feet.&nbsp; I could see in the light from a barn that a farm pond had flooded well across the road just to north of where I'd been driving.</p>
<p>I turned east, into hillier terrain.&nbsp; This was in some ways worse, because the rain was coming down so hard that the road was extremely slick.&nbsp; It was so bad that I very nearly hydroplaned on the<i> top</i>&nbsp;of a hill.&nbsp; My blood pressure didn&rsquo;t really go up until that moment.&nbsp; Because if you fly off into nothingness in hilly terrain where everything is flooded and plenty of emergencies abound, I don&rsquo;t reckon you&rsquo;d get found for quite some time.</p>
<p>Each valley brought the threat of another creek crossing, and there were several.&nbsp; There were also signs that civilization was near, and I came upon it as suddenly as I had the creeks.</p>
<p>Out of the howling rain and darkness, I pulled into a town. &nbsp;Blazing light, cutting through darkness. &nbsp;I have never been so excited to see the shining beacon of a gas station sign.&nbsp; This is notable, because I might have had some tense moments in Wyoming and Virginia and maybe also Maryland where my vehicle literally ran out of gas right just as I pulled up to the fuel pump.&nbsp; I mean, hypothetically that could have happened, like at least three times.</p>
<p>At the gas station, I discovered that there were about seven flood and flash-flood watches and warnings for the area where I was driving.</p>
<h2>Risk Assessment</h2>
<p>I will admit that I had ass-umed my phone would get any automated <a title="Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)" href="https://www.ready.gov/alerts" target="_blank">Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)</a> that are broadcast by cell tower if there was flood danger in the area &ndash; and I had not gotten any.&nbsp; I did consciously consider this before heading out into the hurricane-force weather.</p>
<p>The gal at the gas station had gotten all 3-4 or so of the WEAs, so they were sent.&nbsp; My guess is that my carrier had poor coverage in the area.&nbsp; Which is in part a lesson to me and to anyone &ndash; we aren&rsquo;t necessarily going to get officially warned of impending danger.&nbsp; It certainly caught me a bit by surprise &ndash; and I&rsquo;m an emergency management professional.&nbsp; Had I known the topography better, I might have anticipated the flood risk.&nbsp; I wasn&rsquo;t keeping up on precip rates and so on &ndash; as most folks don&rsquo;t on a normal day.&nbsp; I had been focused on seeing good friends, and on being in touch with my people.</p>
<p>At the gas station sanctuary, I got up to speed.&nbsp; A friend I was in contact with recommended a hotel.&nbsp; I looked into it, and the unfolding flood scenario.</p>
<p>While I was getting gas, an emergency water rescue team and corresponding fire apparatus left town all lights-and-sirens, which was not a surprise. &nbsp;Still, my heart fell. &nbsp;Partly because it could have been me; but mostly because someone was in trouble. &nbsp;Now, firefighters would be out in the rain and the danger rescuing someone. &nbsp;Hopefully.</p>
<p>My assessment of the info I could find was this.&nbsp; The flood situation looked like it would continue, although the rain had diminished to slightly-less-than-hurricane-force strength.&nbsp; The town I was in was surrounded by creeks, and just below a dammed-up lake.&nbsp; Google Maps showed backed-up traffic all over the metro area.&nbsp; While the back roads had been dangerous, it&rsquo;s possible that the freeways were just as bad &ndash; or worse.&nbsp; And waters would be rising well into the morning.</p>
<p>One thing I know about disasters is that I don&rsquo;t want to be a part of one&hellip; <i>if at all possible</i>.&nbsp; It just adds complication &ndash; all around.&nbsp; My inclination as a professional is not to add to the trouble, and I certainly was not in a position to assist.</p>
<p>I got the hell out of there.&nbsp; I advised my friend when I left that beautiful shining oasis of a gas station, and checked in when I got to the interstate.&nbsp; As a bonus, a local sheriff followed me about halfway through that last section, and there were only a few pretty low stream crossings.&nbsp; I did see the lights for the water rescue to my north on what could have been a lake.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s hard to tell, when everything is wet and flooding.</p>
<h2>The After-Action</h2>
<p>This is a long story.&nbsp; I tell the story for a few reasons.&nbsp; One is that I had an absolutely beautiful and serendipitous day.&nbsp; I got to see two good friends and make some new ones&hellip; with next to no planning on my part.&nbsp; We saw an amazing total solar eclipse, in a short window with the only sun we would see that day.&nbsp; I get the irony, given that we needed full sun in order to not see the sun &ndash; and I love it.</p>
<p>I&rsquo;d never have expected the day to take such a turn.&nbsp; We were watching the weather for news around the eclipse &ndash; not for what happened after.</p>
<p>Nobody expects a disaster.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s the nature of the things that they tend to catch people off guard.&nbsp; The scene I always picture with this thought is from <a title="YouTube video, Ellicott City, MD flash flood, July 2016 - Restaurant" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-shmNbxAqs" target="_blank">people having dinner in Ellicott City, Maryland in the summer of 2016</a>.&nbsp; Suddenly a flash flood trapped them in a restaurant, as the road outside become a torrent of water&hellip; carrying cars and people down the spontaneous and extremely powerful temporary river.&nbsp; In one moment, dinner.&nbsp; In another, <a title="YouTube video of Ellicott City, MD flash flood - human rescue chain" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7VR6iSxUAU" target="_blank">people nearby are helping more people save each other&rsquo;s lives.</a></p>
<p>When an emergency is unfolding, you don&rsquo;t know if it will become a full-on disaster.&nbsp; There seems to be some sort of tipping point that is different in every single scenario that is the fine line.&nbsp; But it may be a disaster for an individual.&nbsp; It may have been a disaster for the person or people who had to call for a water rescue near the town I stopped through.&nbsp; For the 72 (or 160, depending on the news source) other water rescues people needed in the Kansas City area that night.&nbsp; For the family shown on their rooftop, awaiting help as floodwaters surrounded their home.</p>
<p>I continue to be awed by the power of this planet we inhabit.&nbsp; All of the technology in the world is not going to save every single one of us when we are in an impact zone.&nbsp; That&rsquo;s just a fact.&nbsp; Stuff is going to happen, and keep happening. &nbsp;Firefighters are not going to be able to reach everyone in the rushing water.</p>
<p>So we think about this stuff ahead of time.&nbsp; We plan for it.&nbsp; We get resilient.&nbsp; In my story here, owning a Jeep &ndash; and knowing how to drive it &ndash; may well have saved my life.&nbsp; And you know I bought that Jeep to increase my resilience, because that&rsquo;s how I roll &ndash; even before I understood that resilience was what I was building.</p>
<p>When the unexpected happens, we navigate it as best we can, given the tools we have available.&nbsp; Sometimes that&rsquo;s a 4-wheel-drive vehicle; sometimes it&rsquo;s a flood warning and a decent map.&nbsp; Had I known about the numerous flood warnings, would I have stayed back at the hotel where I dropped my friends?&nbsp; Had I been familiar with the geography of the place, would I have taken those backroads?</p>
<p>Part of countering fear is assessing, accepting, and addressing risk.&nbsp; Part of it is knowing what&rsquo;s going on in the first place.&nbsp; Part of it is not panicking when the unexpected happens.&nbsp; Part is resilience.&nbsp; There is also critical thinking.&nbsp; Taking action.</p>
<p>One of the things first responders and emergency management professionals do after any big incident is an after-action analysis.&nbsp; When I was on a hotshot crew, our crew <a title="Create the Space - a counterfear tool" href="/the-counterfear-blog/tool-create-the-space/">created the space</a>&nbsp;to talk through every incident.&nbsp; The rough stuff and the success.&nbsp; Everything from our communication and interaction to the mistakes we made, or the things we could have done better.&nbsp; Also, of course we totally kicked ass&hellip; so we covered that, too.&nbsp; Every burn I have been on and every disaster has been the same:&nbsp; there is always an after-action.</p>
<p>Thanks for reading mine.&nbsp; As my hotshot captain said before every fire, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t get dead.&rdquo;&nbsp; Good advice.</p>
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<div class="tags_list">
      <span>2017 posts</span>
      <span>assemble a toolbox</span>
      <span>assess situation & resources</span>
      <span>assess, accept, & address risk</span>
      <span>build resilience</span>
      <span>counterfear tools (in blog)</span>
      <span>disasters & emergencies</span>
      <span>don't panic</span>
      <span>environment / planet / wild places</span>
      <span>find a way forward</span>
      <span>know & learn & train & teach</span>
      <span>take action</span>
      <span>think critically & solve problems</span>
      <span>women / half the sky</span>
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