Oct 17 - 46/45 - McCain +01
How to Survive Series: Submerged Car
After two tragic deaths in Ohio yesterday due to cars submerged in flood waters, I got to thinking about what I would do in a similar situation. I remember years ago when I was still living at my parents house, coming home late at night and crossing a "river" of flood water going through the middle of the street; when I told my Dad about it the next morning, I received a lecture about the dangers of such a stunt, but I never really got the facts on what to do to avoid it.
So, I googled "what to do if your car is submerged" and lucky for me there was a whole host of how-to's; lucky for you, I'm going to share them with you!
1. A car sinks into the water by accident once every four hours, and it just takes 2 feet of water to wash away your car, so be prepared and practice your exit plan! Try to remain as calm as possible, assess the situation, and move ahead. Breathe slowly and conserve air- a coolheaded person can easily hold their breath for up to 45 seconds under pressure.
2. Here the websites' tips differed slightly. Some said to remove your seatbelt immediately, but others said to keep it on for leverage while you open the windows or doors.
3. Because of the engine, the car will float for a short time-- get out now if you can. If the car is sinking more rapidly, pressure requires that you wait to open the doors or windows until the car completely fills with water. If the keys are still in the ignition, the electric windows will work for several minutes. It might also be worth it to purchase a $5 window punch to keep in the car for emergency situations.
4. After the window or door is open, swim out of the car head first. If you are disoriented, look for bubbles and swim in the direction they are moving. If there are other adults in the car, they should follow suit; children should be released from their seatbelts at the same time as you release yours (this could take some practice). During flash floods and strong currents, try to get to higher ground if you can, or hang on to a stable structure like bridge supports.
5. Seek medical attention immediately. The adrenaline in your blood may make you unable to detect medical injuries.
Hopefully this information will never come in handy.
By Annie - 3/21/2008
12 Comments:
Annie,
Thanks for the tips! You forgot the most important tip: when in doubt, play it safe and don't try to drive through a flooded stream/river/etc..
It's better to take an extra couple of minutes and take a detour -- thus driving around a bad situation instead of getting stuck in the middle of it.
I saw a photo of a guy who got stuck in Farmersville, Ohio (near Dayton), and know exactly where he got stuck (I've been on that road several times) -- all the idiot had to do was take a two minute detour, and he would have avoided (1) getting his truck stuck in several feet of water and having the fire department rescue him, and (2) the embarassment of his friends seeing the photo of him standing on top of his truck in the Dayton Daily News the next morning.
Chucks car got swept away by flooding a few yrs back. True story.
boring for this blog. and who gives a fuck. love ya, but you should quit.
Thanks Anon, please send more exciting post ideas my way. Since I talk politics from dawn til dusk, and sometimes more, I need a break from it all once in awhile.
If you would prefer more of the Obama love fest material, you're barking up the wrong tree.
Annie...I hate Obama...Hillary all the way. Actually, I have made my mind up that if Obama gets the nomination I will vote for Mccain. It would be the first time in my life that I voted republican. XOXO
Thanks for the peak into a Hillary supporter's soul.
I am not seeking to turn this into some forum on Bob, nor should I speak for him, but I must repeat a comment I left in a below post....
annie, this is my last time i ever plan on making a negative comment to you....
it is really odd how you get all pissy with Bob in the past for insinuating he was sexist for saying you added a female perspective to the site, but then you do clearly feminine posts (not this post, but others).
The posts are fine, but WTF is with the sarcasm like we are so bad for pointing out you bring posts that are from a feminine perspective
You cannot have it both ways. You cannot sit there and get all high and mighty when someone points out you speak from a feminine perspective, but then go and do overtly "girly" posts.
Among many of the reasons he quite, Bob could never recover from that BS about insinuating he was sexist when he COMPLIMENTED the additional perspective you gave to the site. I cannot blame him.
And this site suffered a great loss from that crap.
well now we all know where the arrogant barrister stands on this matter, the site suffered because you were such a jackass whenever anyone disagrees with you.
Annie ignore him he just needs to be surrounded with like minded individuals, This is hardly a feminine post, and all of the new contributors have bettered the site--you will just need to get through a transition phase
chuck, welcome back :)
and now...
bob referred to a masculine net. annie took issue with it.
you bring up her subsequent posts and you say they are "clearly feminine posts."
let me put it this way:
suppose you are irish and take issue with the statement "all irish are drunks."
does this mean that you can't go out and get drunk on one or more occasions? nope.
does you getting drunk lend support to the statement that "all irish are drunks"? nope, again.
the only thing that can be said is that you went out and got drunk.
that is, it isn't the fact that annie posts what she does, but the statement what she posts are "clearly feminine", as in "all women tend to post similar sorts of things."
annie will write what annie writes because she is annie. to draw broader (pun not intended) inference from it to include all women is where it runs afoul.
clarifying just one thing: by no means do I think anyone posts from a purely gender perspective. But, at times (women's rally post, valentine's post, 90210 post, etc), it is fair to say that is coming from a feminine perspective.
Just like when I talk about the NBA, I am coming from a masculine perspective.
That said, all of TCS stories have a gender-neutral appeal.
But I would never insinuate someone was sexist because they pointed out I talk about jock stuff.
(i have promised myself to keep my comments to a bare minimum in my return, but damn it is hard)
The entire Chief Source staff should either get into a boxing ring or have an orgy to calm the hostility. LOL
Good comment anon....I don't think the movers and shakers on this site have a sense of humor.....
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