IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

Record Rains, Flooding, Mudslides

Another typical disaster day in California.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Hilary left an impression on California. Record one-day rainfall in places. The necessary mudslides that follow with street and stream flooding. Another “emergency day” in California, but one that had enough warning to limit the loss of life.

Schools closed, keeping children safe. Some administrators were criticized for doing so when the impacts were not that significant. What if one child had died walking to school, had been swept down a street drain, etc.? I’d rather be criticized for protecting students than for wishing I had behaved differently to keep just one more child safe.

Record temperatures, record flooding, record storms, record loss of life from wildfires ... every day there are new records being set somewhere in the world. We are just at the beginning of a new era in emergency management.

In military terms, we are now just at the tip of the spear, heading toward full-on calamity. The main battle has yet to be engaged and the limited losses we are experiencing now will be like nothing once “full-on combat” begins.

In colloquial terms, as they might say “up river,” we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.