Flood Safety Awareness Week is March 18-22, 2013

News Headlines

The National Weather Service has declared the week of March 18-22, 2013 as Flood Safety Awareness Week.

It floods somewhere in the United States or its territories nearly every day of the year. In the past thirty years, floods have killed an average of 95 people a year and have caused an average of $8 billion in damages annually.

In Eastern NY and Western New England, flooding can happen any time of year and has a wide range of causes: heavy thunderstorm rains, tropical cyclones, snow melt, ice jams, storm surge and even beaver dam breaks.

The goals of Flood Safety Awareness Week are to:

Inform the public about NWS forecast and warning services and flood information;

Heighten public awareness to the risks associated with all types of floods including flash flooding, storm surge, and those related to dam or levee failures; and

Empower citizens to take actions necessary to protect their lives and livelihoods.

Flood Safety Awareness Week will provide daily topics and information to help you prepare for a flood in your area, become a force of nature and help those around you prepare for, and take action during, a flood.

Questions you may be asking yourself about floods may include:

Do I need to be concerned about flooding?
How can I find out if I am in danger from a flood?
What is the difference between a flood and a flash flood?
How do I know how severe a flood will be?
Is there anything I can do to prepare for a flood?

Your Albany, NY National Weather Service office will be making daily posts on Facebook and tweeting (@NWSAlbany) each day with flood safety information. In addition we will be issuing daily public information statements matching the daily safety topics. To view the latest public information statement issued by the Albany NWS, click here (please note that you may need to search "previous versions" during active weather because snow and rain totals are also issued as public information statements).