What did you do, or would you do with your guns in a flood?

[Ignition Override]

GunnyUSMC:

It's strange how the flood in southern Louisiana in 2016 had been so quickly forgotten by the mainstream media. Over 11,000 people in shelters.

Almost as if it never happened. A 'certain' news channel mentioned that at least 20,000-30,000 people were affected. Can't imagine the nasty staph or MERSA infections from cut skin in that water. My wife briefly had some MERSA in her leg from just a small bicycle slide and scrape in very thin mud.

Very kind of you to spend so much time on peoples' guns.

 

[Alte Schule]

This was taken at 0800 Hrs. 8/28/17.

The top of the white marker between the two trees is a five foot water gauge that sits on a crossing ten feet above the creek. My house is on a small rise so the water in front of the camera, about ten feet from my driveway, is only about a foot deep but rising. Over the 25 years we have lived back here we have had some flooding issues but what are you going to do when you get 20 plus inches of rain in 30 hours? Well like Gunny said you just wait. My son lives down the road and his house is on a little knob about 20 feet higher than mine so we started organizing things to move to his place. Thought about moving my firearms to my attic but just stacked some in my SUV and had the rest ready to move if need be.
At about 2000 Hrs. it went from torrential rain, to moderate and then a steady drizzle. The water then began to recede.

By noon of the 30th it was almost gone
Damage: The side of the fence facing the water you see was destroyed. Branch fell off a tree and punched a hole in my roof so I had some water damage in the attic and to the dining room ceiling. Glad I didn't put any firearms up there. Have Family in Houston and Corpus Christi. All OK but have extensive property damage. Worst part is the people that think there is a gas and food shortage. Panic mode to the extreme. Hope it lightens up soon.

 

[caribou]

Our Rivers here in the Arctic flood 25+ feet every Spring breakup of the ice. Takes 2 or so weeks to pass....
Flood zones are well known here, and theres local folk tales about such happenings.

Fortunately for us, if its flooding, were getting in the boats with guns for the last 'fur hunt' of the season, as water 'fur' Muskrats,Otter, Beaver fur is still fast and prime, but when the floods go down and mating season is on, and the biting and fighting make pelts worthless pretty quickly. 3 days and its a done deal...

 

[Helidude]

Out of the safe, in trash bags pointing up and open is silly.
The water will go higher, get into the bag.
Anything the current or other floating objects doesnt knock over, will be moved by the two footed visitors.


Houses and anything that you think is strong enough, high enough, heavy enough, or there wont be strong current, is false hope.
"Its never flooded here....." Maybe not. Maybe you just havent seen it.

Buried or underground locations may stay there. Or the dirt may get waterlogged and your stuff along with several city blocks may float and wash away.

Anything you take to save can be stolen, confiscated, or damaged. Insurance may or may not pay.

Those who prep and pay attention usually have a better chance. There is still Mr Bean dumb luck.

I have seen plenty that has happened in person and some from news internet etc.
The concrete retaining walls on a local freeway, crossed the freeway.

Something can happen anywhere. Wiley Coyote proved that getting an anvil on his head in the middle of nowhere, and that cute blonde got killed by a falling toilet seat on her lunch break.
Fiction, yes. But goofier stuff has happened.


I have had fire arms in the attic before due to circumstances at the time. Rising water, storm surge and petty theft wasnt an issue. But storm damage, leaks, tornados, determined thieves (or some that just had more time ) and fire was a concern.

Water proofing:
Good ammo cans will work. Pistols, AR lowers, and some of the shorter uppers will fit depending on the can.
pvc pipe with capped ends can work depending on size of your pipe and guns.
Trash bags and ziplok bags, sorta but not for long.

I have also used a vacum sealer food storage by the roll. ARs will fit broken down, unpinned and seperated with a wally world sealer. Commercial sealers can do larger bags.
Some gun parts will poke holes in the vacum bags, so it doesnt work well with all of them.


ARs take up less space if un pinned and uppers and lowers toted seperately. This way they also look less like " he's got guns ".

When I " lived " in a hotel for work, I moved and stored mine in something other than gun cases. Boxes marked for something else, sport cases, tool boxes etc. If you look around a bit you can find stuff that will fit what you need to carry. This may lower theft a bit if the only target is firearms, but milwaukee, snap on, nike etc. will still be a tasty treat with a surprise inside for most thieves.
But it will keep you off the radar of most gun un-friendly types.
I also had a deer cam in the room. Thankfully all the footage was boring.


I'm no expert, but I've learned a few things. Some from success. Some from others. Some from mistakes. ( ok, a lot from mistakes )

Sorry for being long winded, but hope this helps ( or entertains ) some.

 

[Helidude]

Shortage......
Earlier a few restaurants and gas stations were not getting supplies in because roads were blocked.
At HEB this evening, my favorite soda was out, bakery was out of my favorite bread ( plenty of other bread ), you could tell which chips are popular, and the double stuff oreos were gone.
I'm guessing nobody likes the peanut butter oreos

Everything else seemed well stocked.

 

[Tirod]

The EF5 in Joplin pointed out that in a catastrophic amount of wind, where the roof is gone and the walls collapse, most of your gun stuff will be scattered down the street or littering the yard in the pouring rain.

No last minute things to do there except hunker down. All too many never take any of the necessary steps to safeguard their firearms from more than a break in.

It should be obvious the best prevention against flood is to live on high ground. When we moved to our present home I thought we'd fixed that, it's on the top of a hill - or so I thought. It was actually on the edge of a flat plain which shed water toward my driveway and to the foundation, which had settling cracks in the poured concrete walls. We've seen two inches of water in the basement twice in 15 years and have discovered when it's coming down an inch an hour we still don't have enough groundscaping to push the water away.

What was I saying about don't live in a flood plain? Oh, yeah, the best possible course of action. It's nice to have a basement to get below grade in high winds, on the other hand, I have yet to see a basement built which would remain perfectly dry over 50 years. It's a very rare situation.

I'm reminded of an old saying, do not store up your treasures on earth, where moths eat them and rust decays them, and where thieves break in to steal them. The question about what do you do with "all those guns" can be addressed another way - maybe the problem is "all those guns."

But that's just crazy talk on a gun forum.

 

[BSA1]

Why the exterior walls? Why not a interior walls that aren't load bearing? And no, this would be something to do the day before the storm hits, not as the floodwaters are rising. Those people had about three days warning.

Oh, and apparently you didn't read the part about sealing them in mylar bags.

Reality check.

This is not a pipe leaking turning you basement into a indoor swimming pool. There are reports that the interior walls of many homes are totally washed away by the currents that ran through the houses and apartments. Houses that are built today are just crackerboxes.

Mylar bags good idea if you have them in advance. I think I will get some especially for my long guns

 

[BSA1]

Water proofing:

Good ammo cans will work. Pistols, AR lowers, and some of the shorter uppers will fit depending on the can.

pvc pipe with capped ends can work depending on size of your pipe and guns.

PVC pipe is a most excellent idea. Stick them in the rafters in the spaces in the basement and/or the attic. Anchor them ell in place to the wood with nails or screws using the galvanized metal strapping the plumbers used when hanging water pipes. (There are photos of caskets that were buried in now floating in the water).

Of course this method is only useful for flooding but for those of us that are “p******s” it is simple and cost effective.

 

[tarosean]

Worst part is the people that think there is a gas and food shortage

Pretty common sight at any of the stations around here. Good thing two of my 4 require these. Course the next station will be the opposite.

 

[GAF]

For those who think you will have time to move your stuff to safety, you would be wrong in most cases.
One day while sitting on a friends front porch (Abilene TX 1978) have a beer and discussing the world of problems a sever thunder storm
blows in . As we sit there it starts to rain a little then it becomes a downpour. The street become a raging river in less than 2 minutes.
Garbage cans and things from peoples yards are rushing by in the torrent of water. The porch I am sitting on is about 2 feet above street level.
The water is rising so fast that there is no time to get away and I am expecting that the water will not get to the porch so I just sit there with beer in hand watching the water rise. So the water rises higher and higher. It rises right up to the foundation of the house, but no water flows into the house or onto the porch. This all happens in a little less than 5 minutes. After the water receded there was not one door in that house that would close right . Not even the front door to the house.

If you are not prepared to leave right now you probably will not be able to. Everyone who live in a flood prone area needs to be ready to leave at a moments notice.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

You would be supersized at how many waterproof storage items that will not last a day or two in the water. I talked with many people that put their family photos and other items in Ziploc bags, only to find that just about everything got wet.
When the weather man tells you that 30 inches of rain will be falling in your area, your pretty much are only going to have a 24 to 48 hour warning. That doesn't give you much time to save your stuff and help family and friends.
We didn't get any warning that was any different then before in 2016. But you also have to account for any construction in your area. Improvements were made to I-12, which passes through the south side of Denham Springs LA. They put up a nice four foot wall right down the middle that runs for 5 to 6 miles going east. It worked like a dam and caused more flooding on the north side of the interstate.



When the flood waters come, they come quick. You will not have time to save everything. Your family will take priority over everything, even the guns you love.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Yep. Guns are still just "stuff" and most "stuff" ain't worth risking yours, or your family's, safety.
I live on the high, (well for NE Kansas) ground so floods won't be a problem. Tornadoes and thunderstorms are so the basement is where the "stuff" is.
And that picture above is a great illustration of the unintended consequences of everyday construction practices during this kind of thing.

 

[lightman]

I'm not in a flood prone area so this is only an opinion. I would put my guns in the attic. Probably placed out in plain sight, on the upper braces on the trusses. I doubt looters will be too interested in looking in attics when the power is off. Most of my ammo is already in ammo cans. My stock of powder and primers could be a problem. If time permitted, they would get moved to the attic also.

I spent over a month working in and around New Orleans after Katrina and Rita. My sincere sympathy to those who suffered flooding!

 

[BSA1]

Like Shanghai my home sits on high ground (I think the highest) where we live in the country. Our problem is tornados so the basement is safe storage. We will loose the guns we keep upstairs (for self-defense and varmint control) but we have plenty of back-up guns and ammo in the vault.

One of the daughters lives in San Antonio. She was prepared to bug-out if the Hurricane tracked to S.A. as they had no idea how well her part of town will handle heavy rain. She had cash on hand and their big vehicle gassed up.

Oh and since this is a gun forum all of their firearms and magazines were fully loaded and ready to go.

 

[chicharrones]

Then if time permitted, I'd move them into the attic and put them in plastic trash bags if possible.

My current house is a two story, so I'm pretty good there. My first house was a one story and I sure the heck did put some guns up in the attic during Tropical Storm Allison.

During Hurricane Ike, my dad's home on the water where Trinity Bay and East Bay meet took on the storm surge with the lower level being washed away. Along with his pier, and parts of his barn. He evacuated before the storm hit, but he left three firearms in that lower level that were dispersed by seawater onto his small patch of land.

We recovered those guns about a week after the storm went through. They were a rusty mess. My dad gave me those three guns and only one was salvageable. A Winchester pump shotgun. But I didn't restore it, I gave it to a friend of mine who was younger and had more time on his hands. It wasn't store bought pretty when he was done, but it was functional.

 

[mjsdwash]

Reality check.

This is not a pipe leaking turning you basement into a indoor swimming pool. There are reports that the interior walls of many homes are totally washed away by the currents that ran through the houses and apartments. Houses that are built today are just crackerboxes.

Mylar bags good idea if you have them in advance. I think I will get some especially for my long guns

yea, theres some kind of scripting error on this page, my reply was about how fast you can set concrete, nothing to do with mylar or framing, but I gave up, because the forum wont let you simply delete your message. I get what your saying

 

[Robert]

THR is a firearms forum, not a disaster preping forum.