Tragedy On The River

[jdmidwest]

I have 2, one in the daily driver and one in the camp bag. Both are walkie talkies, so they are dual purpose when camping. Both have alarms that can be turned on like the one I use at home to alert you. The NOAA system pretty well covers all of the places I go, even in Alaska and Arkansas. Many a night I have hunkered down in a tent during a thunderstorm with the radio on. It is not failsafe, but it gives you a little peace of mind.

I keep one by the bedside with a battery backup made by Eton, have for years. I seem to live in a pathway for wind storms, I have had several pass thru within miles the past 10 years and was alerted each time. The only downside, it beeps for thunderstorms, I wish you could filter the alerts for tornado or floods only.

[Bill Anderson]

I've fished and camped Albert Pike a number of times over the past 40 years, and have always been very leery of rain in those mountains. I have seen that river rise several feet in just minutes, and always double check the weather forcasts and conditions when I'm there. This tragic happening just confirms what I have always feared most about camping along Ozark streams in narrow canyons or valleys. A flash flood can be on you so fast that yout have little time to move to higher ground, and it might not even have rained where you are, but further upstream, so you might not even be aware of the danger until it's too late.

[RSBreth]

You can also get text-message alerts set off by parameters of the gauging station you select from the USGS, but that only works if you are in a spot where you get a signal. Still pretty neat though...

http://water.usgs.gov/wateralert/