By Bob Difley
Thursday’s torrential rainfall and flash flooding of two rivers in the forests of western Arkansas killed at least sixteen campers with three dozen or more still missing. The Caddo and Little Missouri rivers rose after 7.6 inches of rainfall fell overnight and by early morning the Little Missouri River had risen to more than 20 feet, engulfing campers along the rivers in the isolated Ouachita Mountains.
Local authorities say the flash flood engulfed the U.S. Forest Service’s primitive 54-site Albert Pike campground 75 miles west of Little Rock and as of Friday afternoon the area still remained flooded and difficult to get to. More deaths are expected, though it’s difficult to determine how many people were actually in the wide-spread area. The Red Cross says there could have been as many as 300. Sixty have been rescued with two dozen hospitalized. Since the rains and flooding came quickly overnight there was little time to warn campers of the possibilities of flooding.
Questions will undoubtedly arise as to whether this tragedy could have been avoided. Was heavy rainfall predicted? Is rain of such proportions common in this area at this time of year? Were there any past instances of flooding in the area during heavy rains? Were the forest service rangers aware of the weather prediction and the possible danger ? Could the campers have been warned, even if it was in the middle of the night (a flash flood warning was issued by the National Weather Service at 2 AM–high water came at 5:30 AM)? Should the campers have known about the rain prediction and avoided that campground?
As in most catastrophes, hindsight is 20-20. But it also raises the question of what, if any, precautions we RVers should take when selecting a camping area. Do we depend on the ability of already spread-thin authorities to warn us? How much research can we be expected to do when RVing in unfamiliar areas and changing campgrounds often as we wander about the country?
The question also arises whether historical records are good enough to predict what the weather will be today or tomorrow. Is climate change causing such unpredictable weather patterns that those records are irrelevant?
It would be in our own best interests, given this unpredictability and the possibility of authorities being unable to warn us in time in the event of a problem, that we spend a bit more time assessing where we camp and when, as well a being especially informed about the weather and local conditions.
- Is it prudent taking a chance if storms are predicted–or even possible as summer storms often are in mountainous areas–and camping by a river that flows through a steep sided canyon?
- Is the entry road to a campground vulnerable to flooding or washout, preventing your departure?
- Is your campsite over-hung with heavy tree limbs that could come crashing through your roof in the event of heavy winds, or nearby dead trees that could topple?
- Did you get the latest updated weather forecast before entering the forest since reception of all your communication devices may be limited by the terrain?
It would be a wise decision to take the responsibility for your own safety and those in your care, rather than depend on authorities and the unpredictable nuances of an unsettled climate. It might save your life.
For more on boondocking and public lands camping, check out my ebook, BOONDOCKING: Finding the pPerfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands.
Pingback: My Blog Title
butterbean carpenter
Howdy yall,
I just found out some friends of mine had JUST moved to Albert Pike, two weeks before the flood, and lost everything they had, except their lives.. He also was able to save 3 people from drowning… They are middle-aged adults(40s) who have spent their lives in church work(not real remunative work) helping others..
I am glad that he was there to save those people…
please, pray for everyone affected by this tragedy…
Alexandre Tarcitano (Brazil)
It´s very sad when you hear such notice. Specially when there casualties.. Last january, during summer in Brazil we had a similar accident. . There was a river flowing through a camp site and flooded very fast. Hopefully was during daylight so people could see and left the place. We had no victims but everything was destroyed, tents, trailers and motorhomes. The place was covered by mus and so far they couldn’t reopen. Cleaning the place will take more 3 or 4 months.
Shelia
My heart goes out to the families who have lost family members in this flood. When you camp one is responsible for their own safety. Use common sense. When there is bad weather and possible floods to take place have someone on alert during the night that has the needed equipment to keep everyone safe. I grew up in tornado alley and a many night our parents stayed up with us close by in case we needed to make a run to safety. My husband’s parents took everyone to the cellar for safety.
Being from South Texas flash floods are a way of life. People lose their lives every year by driving through high water or being swept off the road or having a 500 year flood flooding where it never had flooded before. Several years ago in a town on I-35 where an RV park was and still is the water started rising up stream and people were awaken in the middle of the night to start running up the hill to safety. They had no time to save RVs, cars or trucks, only their lives. At least someone warned them before they all died.
Kathy N
The catastrophe in that campground is truly terrible. Currently I am in a 4H Fairground in Indiana, with about 500 deaf campers….I KNOW an alert siren would do nothing for these folks. but what would be the alternative?? You must live your life and cannot worry about tomorrow…this is why we campers..JUST GO for IT!!!
agesilaus
When I read this story a couple of days ago my first thought was “Flash flood in Arkansas?!”. I think many of us associate that sort of danger with the west. The weather radio is a good idea tho.
BK
Jim G
There are several portable radios which carry the signal from the National Weather Service. I have one, made by Oregon Scientific, which has an automatic audible and visual alert which is activated by the weather service in the event of severe weather warnings. I used this at home just last week as we were under a tornado watch and the radio activated the alert as a severe thunderstorm approached. These units are very portable, small and can be carried by hikers very easily. Just a suggestion
Jim G
Given the tragic nature of this horrible story, why are folks choosing to express gripes about logging on etc., this is not the time nor forum for such inappropriate comments.
As far as the topic itself, all I can say is that we fellow campers should find a special place in our hearts and say a few prayers, for those lost and still missing. A very unfortunate situation which illustrates the power of mother nature and the requisite need to always be prepared to deal with such unpredictable conditions.
Chris
I agree that the air raid type siren would be the most useful (although it wouldn’t help to limit it to those likely to flood because it didn’t sound like anyone considered this an area likely to flood) because as Veria said it is really difficult to figure out if the broadcast warnings apply to your area. I have lived in tornado alley my whole life and we have very frequent storms this time of year and if I didn’t know the area so well then the warnings would be pretty well useless to me. We also don’t even know if the NOAA station for that area was broadcasting. I read on some other site that the transceiver had been knocked out from a previous storm and no specific information if it was back up.
A siren still would not have saved everyone due to how extreme the event was but the chances would have been better if they were awake rather than being woken up by water in their tents or campers. It would also be very useful for other extreme weather conditions.
Jerry X Shea
Interesting – for year I just click on the mail heading and — there it is. I am on
netscape – do you think that makes it easy for me?
Verla Matthews
I agree!!
Allen
I was camping with my troop during November and had the disfortune of wringing out one of my scouts who pitched his tent in a ravine. Good lesson for both of us: For me, check the location before a tenderfoot sets up his tent, and for the scout, watch the others and ask why they are camping on high ground.
The rivers throughout the country are tending to rise faster due to the developments upstream. I’ve seen some in our neck of the woods cover two widths of a city block in less than a day’s time.
Maybe instead of the weather radio information, a “air-raid” siren could be placed in parks that are likely to flood. And also post the information that when it sounds “get up” and seek safer ground.
Wally
George is right!!!! Does anyone audit this website???? Try logging on and see the hoops you have to jump through to read an article. Common guys…..FIX THIS!!!!
(Response by Admin: The pop-up is set to display only once per user, but cookies must be enabled by the user in order for the site to recognize that you have seen the pop-up. If you have your cookies disabled, or if you have your browser set to delete your cookies each time you close your browser then the next time you visit the site will think you are a new visitor and display the pop-up again. Note you may always simply close the pop-up, or install anti-pop-up software on your system if you do not wish to enable your cookies. You may read about how we use cookies in our privacy policy by clicking here.)
Verla Matthews
It seems that alot of campgrounds are in low lying areas, either in attempt to get us closer to the water (like most of us want) or it is cheaper land due to flooding. I have seen many private and public campgrounds through the years flooded in flash-flooding. There have been may stories of campers being killed in these areas. I due believe more could be done to protect the campers. When you are camping from out of state especially, you might not be aware of the dangers in a particular area. I think there could be signs in areas that are prone to flooding, warning campers of the dangers. It’s easy to say that a camper should watch the weather, but when you are traveling sometimes you don’t go through the trouble of setting your tv up at every stop to try to catch a local station with the new wonderful digital situation. My parents camper has an old antenna and only gets a couple of stations compared to my 16+ stations and that is with the converter box. Another problem is these heavy rains can happen way upstream out of the immediate area so you might not even be aware of the danger. Also when you do hear of the warnings and your not familiar with an area, you don’t know where the places are that are being listed on the tv. I do have a weather radio and when we travel it is hard to know what areas the warnings are for. AND who is up in the middle if the night watching the weather. I think the park service could do a better job of warning campers of the dangers. They sure manage to put up enough signs letting us know what we can’t do in a campground.
Denise from ARk
We have a good friend who is a ranger working about 5 miles from this area. As avid campers and with loved ones right there, this story has had our hearts in our throats all day. One of the things that one of the local weathercasters mentioned that NOAA weather radios work even when there isn’t much of any other kind of signal. His suggestion is to keep one of those radios handy whenever you are camping – especially in areas prone to problems brought on by weather and when you’re in an area with limited signals from other radios and cell phones.
George Schomberg
Why do you keep asking for our name, addtess and e-mail address, when your reply is “already in data base? this ridiculus request keeps me from viewing the blog zi am reading. Esp when your reply is ” in the data base. It makes no sense to keep interupting the blogs for such requests which are not neccessary!!!
George Schomberg
Why do you keep asking for our name, addtess and e-mail address, when your reply is “already in data base? this ridiculus request keeps me from viewing the blog zi am reading. Esp when your reply is ” in the data base. It makes no sense to keep interupting the blogs for such requests which are not neccessary!!!
james henderson
sure would make ya think about it, but nothing in life is a sure thing.can’t even be sure to wake up in the morning. Just watch for weather changes, try to be prepared .