With more inclement weather on the horizon, the City of Chattanooga is reminding everyone to avoid driving or walking through flooded areas and to take extra precautions to ensure the safety of all.
The City has activated a website to provide updates on street closures as well as safety tips and information. Visit the site at www.chattanooga.gov/weather. All roads previously closed due to flooding within Chattanooga city limits are open at this time.
As rainfall and flooding continues throughout the Chattanooga and Hamilton County area, here are a few ways to help keep you and your family safe:
- Limit unnecessary driving. If you approach a flooded area, "Turn Around Don't Drown," as the National Weather Service advises.
- Find an alternate route. It is NEVER safe to drive or walk into flooded areas.
- DO NOT move barricades to drive on a street that is closed due to flooding. It is dangerous for you, your family, and for emergency crews who would respond to rescue you.
- Avoid downed power lines, and call EPB immediately at 423-648-1EPB (1372) to report it.
- Report trees or debris blocking a street by calling 311 or (423) 643-6311 and by email at 311@chattanooga.gov.
- If an area or street is flooded but not yet closed to the public, please call and report it to 311.
- Always treat yellow flashing lights as a yield sign and red flashing lights as a stop sign.
- To report non-emergencies, call the Chattanooga Police Department at (423) 698-2525. Always, in the event of an emergency, call 911.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that just 6 inches of fast-moving floodwater can knock over an adult. It takes only 12 inches of rushing water to carry away a small car and about 2 feet for most other vehicles. More than half of all flood-related drownings happen when a car is driven into hazardous floodwater. According to the CDC, the next highest cause is due to walking through flooded areas.