Surviving a Flash Flood

Flood in Segamat, Johor on 31 Jan 2011

Floods and flash floods are a common occurrence in my area and are an almost daily fact of life. During unusually heavy rains, flash floods will often develop suddenly and unexpectedly catching many people unaware. Flash floods alone cause hundreds of deaths each year due to drowning. Most of these deaths are caused by people driving their cars into high water areas during the flooding and could have been avoided. While most property damage cannot be easily avoided, knowing a few basic facts about floods and the effects of moving water can drastically increase your chances of survival.

Flood Survival Tips

Flood Watch: Flooding is possible in your area.

Flash Flood Watch: Flash flooding is possible in your area.

Flood Warning: A flood is occurring or will happen soon as stream or river levels rise.

Flash Flood Warning: A flash flood is occurring. Move to higher ground immediately.

• Be alert to weather forecasts in your area during periods of excessive rainfall and know the terminology used to describe the hazard levels.
  
• Be aware of your flood risk and have an evacuation route planned in advance.
• Never cross a road or highway that has been flooded.
• Turn off the power to avoid possible electrocution hazards.
• Avoid contact with flood waters as they may be contaminated.
• Avoid driving your vehicle during flood conditions
• Abandon your vehicle immediately if it becomes flooded.
• Don’t walk through flood waters as it is difficult to judge water currents.
• If you are caught in flood waters, go over obstacles and keep your feet pointed downstream.
• If you are stranded above the flood waters, stay there till rescued.

a satellite image of the movement of hurricane

flood & fire

Know that driving your vehicle during flood conditions is extremely hazardous. The saying “Turn around, don’t drown!” if followed may save your life.

Always remember these simple facts:

Six inches of water can cause you to lose control of your vehicle.

Twelve inches of water can cause your vehicle to float.

Two feet of water can sweep your vehicle completely off the road.

Staying above the water line!

Risk Management for Outdoor Education Activities

“Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” –Unknown-

“Man must exist in a state of balance between risk and safety. Pure risk leads to self-destruction. Pure safety leads to stagnation. In between lies survival and progress.”- Unknown-

“There is no security on this earth. Only opportunity.” - Douglas Macarthur

The Principles

• RISK IDENTIFICATION
• RISK ASSESSMENT
• RISK REDUCTION
  - Avoidance
  - Reduction
  - Retention
  - Transference
  
  

Outdoor Activity Instructor Supervision

Facility & Field/Area Supervision

• Provide for overall facility supervision,
• including the safe arrival and departure of participants as well as a safety check of the field or facility.
• Keep an eye on the weather and don’t play during unsafe weather conditions.

Activity Supervision

• Recognize the hazards and potential injury
• Always try to have a good ratio of coaches to players for every activity.

Gender-Sensitive Supervision

• Learn how to prevent abusive situations from occurring.
• Establish procedures to handle cases when a player is stranded after an activity.
• Consider doing background checks on all coaches and volunteers in your organization.

Emergency Supervision

• Train coaches and volunteers on basic emergency procedures, how to handle an injury and how to get help
• Establish set procedures for your team and communicate them to your coaches.

Definition, Purpose & Goals of OE

During my first class for Outdoor Education (OE) course this semester, all my students were really pleased & enthusiastic to have me as their lecturer. I shared some of the my past experiences and encourage them to start develop their unexplored potential. I was also set a few main and minor goals for them to execute and achieve by the end of this semester.

OE Definitions

• the use of experiences in the outdoors for the education and development of the ‘whole person’ - The Outdoor Institute
• an experiential method of learning with the use of all senses. It takes place primarily, but not exclusively, through exposure to the natural environment. - Priest, 1990
• an international, experiential education phenomenon which engages people in adventurous activities for enhancement of the well-being of individuals, communities, and the environment - Neill, 2002

Purposes

According to Priest and Gass (1997):

• Recreational programs aim to change the way people feel. The purpose is leisure, fun and enjoyment, e.g., surfing for pleasure.
• Educational programs aim to change the way people feel and think. The purpose is to learn skills and/or information, e.g., learning how to surf classes or geography field trips.
• Developmental programs aim to to change way people feel, think and behave. The purpose is is to undergo personal growth, e.g., a surfing program in which the goal was to push personal limits, test endurance, develop personal goal setting, self-discipline, and build individual's self-esteem, etc.)
• Therapeutic / Redirectional programs aim to change the way people feel, think, behave, and resist. The purpose is correct an individual or group problem, e.g., a low security prison may conduct surfing classes and work on a beach habitat restoration program as part of a pre-release detention program for inmates)

Goals

• Physical goals include physical fitness, weight loss, balanced dietary intake, physical movement and physical and health well-being. Physical goals may be preventative, educational, developmental, and/or rehabilitative (therapeutic).
• Spiritual programs aim to help development of spiritual knowledge and experience (e.g., many Church and Religious groups conduct camps for young people with a combination of spiritual instruction and other goals, such as fun (recreation).
• Relationship / Family / Group / Community oriented programs aim to change the way a particular dyad, small group or community are functioning (as opposed to individual). The unit of interest/analysis in this case is not the individual. Team productivity and school climate are examples.
• Environmental goals include having a positive impact on a specific ecosystem (e.g., native vegetation regeneration), environmental education knowledge (e.g., local area knowledge through to awareness about global climate change), and environmental attitude.

May this post sharing can make my OE course this semester become more enjoyable and more successful.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to campus life to my students especially the prospects who will be following Outdoor Education (SPR1832) course right here in UTM.

This semester, our class will be conducted on every Thursday 2:00pm. The mode of delivery including lecture, presentation by students and practical session. There were two main projects to be completed are Outdoor Recreation Coaching Course (Level 1) and an expedition to an island. Two other minor projects are Kayak STAR 1 course and Basic Outdoor Survival Test.

All the students must be prepare physically, mentally and financially to going through this course. Perhaps, there are a large number of student can achieve an A for this course in this semester!