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Flooding during a hurricane: what to do

Emergency numbers differ by country

Numbers, agencies, and aid programs are different in every country. Your local page has the emergency numbers, disaster office, and shelter information for where you are. Find your local page.

If water is coming into your home, move to a higher floor now. Do not go outside unless officials tell you to leave.

This page tells you what to do when flooding starts during a hurricane, whether from storm surge, heavy rain, or a river. It is written to be read fast.

If you only do three things

  1. Move up, not out. Go to the highest floor that is safe.
  2. Never enter an attic without a way out.
  3. Never walk or drive through floodwater.

Move up, not out

Going outside into moving water is far more dangerous than staying in a flooding house. Wind, debris, and current are all waiting out there. Stay put and go up.

Take your go bag, water, phone, flashlight, and a whistle. Move to the highest floor. If your house has one floor, stand on furniture or a counter as a last resort.

Leave only if officials tell you to, or if the house is collapsing or on fire. If you must leave, use a route officials give you, not your own guess.

Never enter an attic without a way out

People drown in attics when water rises and they cannot get through the roof. Only go up there if you bring a tool that can cut through the roof, such as an axe or a heavy hammer, or if the attic has a window or hatch to the roof. If you can get onto the roof itself, that is often the better choice.

Turn off the electricity if you safely can

Water and electricity kill. If your breaker panel is dry and you can reach it without stepping in water, switch off the main breaker.

If the panel is wet, if you are standing in water, or if you are not sure, leave it alone. Stay out of any room where water has reached outlets or appliances that are still on.

Turn off natural gas only if you smell gas or officials tell you to. Once it is off, the utility must turn it back on.

Why you never walk or drive in floodwater

Just 15 centimeters (6 inches) of moving water can knock an adult off their feet. A depth of 30 centimeters (1 foot) can float a car. Moving water 60 centimeters (2 feet) deep can carry away most vehicles, including trucks and SUVs.

Floodwater hides what is under it: downed power lines, sharp debris, open manholes, washed out roads, and sewage. The water may be electrified. You cannot tell how deep it is by looking.

Turn around, do not drown

Many flood deaths happen in vehicles. If you see water across a road, turn around. Never drive around a barricade.

Signal for help

If you are trapped, call your local emergency number (911 in the United States and Canada) and give your exact address. Then text a family member or friend with the same information so someone outside knows where you are.

Get to a window or the roof where you can be seen. Wave a bright cloth or shine a flashlight. Blow a whistle in three short bursts. Keep signaling every few minutes, because rescuers pass by at unpredictable times.

Do not swim for it. Rescue teams have boats and know the route. Your job is to stay visible and stay alive.

If your car is filling with water

Act at once. Cars sink in minutes, and the doors become impossible to open once water is above the bottom of the windows.

  1. Unbuckle your seatbelt and everyone else's.
  2. Open or break a window. Electric windows often work for a short time. If not, use a window breaker tool or the metal end of a headrest on a corner of a side window.
  3. Get out through the window, children first.
  4. Climb onto the roof of the car if the water is moving, or move toward higher ground if you can do it without walking through fast water.
  5. Call your local emergency number once you are out.

If you cannot open a window, wait for the car to fill nearly to the top. Then the pressure equalizes and the door may open. Take a deep breath before it does and push hard.

Keep a window breaker in the door pocket

A small window breaker and seatbelt cutter costs little. Keep it where you can reach it while belted in, not in the glove box or trunk.

Waiting for rescue

Stay together. Keep warm and dry if you can, because wet clothes pull heat from your body even in summer. Drink water from your supplies, never from the flood.

Floodwater carries sewage and chemicals. Wash any cut that touches it as soon as you have clean water. Do not let children play in it.

Keep listening to your radio. Officials will announce rescue operations and where to go once the water goes down. See Public shelters and After the hurricane.