If you’re asking yourself: “Why do I need a mudslide safety guide?” you’ve come to the right place.
You need to know your risk and prepare so you can protect yourself. Although they aren’t the most highly publicized natural disaster in the United States, mudslides still do a lot of damage. Did you know landslides and mudslides cause approximately $1-2 billion in damage and kill an average of 25 people each year in the U.S.?
Throughout this mudslide safety guide, we’ll share expert tips that can protect your business, home, and loved ones from becoming a mudslide statistic. Keep reading to gauge your risk and increase safety before, during, and after a mudslide.
First let’s go over what a mudslide actually is and how they happen. Please feel free to skip this section if you’re a geological expert. Otherwise, these next few paragraphs could really help you understand mudslides better, which will help you prepare.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mudslides are a common type of fast-moving landslide that tends to flow in channels. Also known as mud flows and debris flows, mudslides are made up of masses of rock, earth, and/or debris. These masses move quickly down a slope when the natural stability of the slope is compromised.
But how do slopes become compromised in the first place? There are a few different weather-related events that can cause mudslides. The most common causes include:
Humans can also cause mudslides, or at least create environments where they are more likely to happen. When people destroy vegetation they destroy the roots that hold soil on slopes in place. Landslides and mines go hand in hand, so all mining operations should invest in weather alerting tools.
Mudslides can travel miles from the source, picking up trees, rocks, and even buildings on the way. For this reason, they can be very dangerous.
We broke our mudslide safety guide up into three parts to help you before, during, and after this type of natural disaster. We hope you’ll only ever need the “before” section, which focuses on preparation tips.
With any type of severe weather or natural disaster, your first line of defense is always preparedness. Let’s dive in and get smart about mudslide safety.
When it comes to mudslide safety, you need to have a plan beforehand so you know what to do in case of an emergency. Here are the steps you should follow before a mudslide occurs to give you, your business, and your family the best chance of surviving.
Now that you know what to do to prepare for a possible mudslide it’s important that you know what to do during one. Here’s what you should do if a mudslide occurs or if you know one is likely to occur.
If you’ve safely evacuated you could come home to a lot of damage. Here’s what you should do after a mudslide occurs at your home or business.
Now that you’ve got the whole mudslide safety guide, let’s see how vulnerable your area is for mudslides. Some areas are more likely than others to experience landslides. As we briefly mentioned before, areas where mudslides have occurred before are a big warning that they will happen again. Another risky area includes places where wildfires or human modification of the land has destroyed vegetation.
One risk factor we haven’t talked about yet are slopes themselves. Both natural slopes like canyons and hills as well as man-made slopes built for roads and buildings are susceptible to mudslides. Other risky areas include places near channels or rivers as well as areas where surface runoff is directed.
And preparedness starts with you.
Remember, the safest way to prepare for any severe weather event or natural disaster is with preparedness. This mudslide safety guide would be incomplete without giving you some of the tools you need to prepare. Below, you’ll find information on weather safety tools and emergency kits to help you prevent damages and injuries from mudslides.
You can’t control the weather and stop mudslides from happening, but you can get advanced warnings with the right tools. When it comes to mudslides and landslides, alerts for heavy rains, severe thunderstorms, droughts, and wildfires can help you prepare. It’s best to use data from your own weather station or a station in your town, so hyperlocal weather networks are the best providers of warnings.
We also recommend using an alerting platform that works best for you. If your workplace is in a mudslide-prone area and you use the computer all day, email alerts are a great bet. However, if you’re on-the-go all day for work you would be better off with text alerts. Having a weather map that can do it all will help you prepare and protect what matters to you most.
Every business and home should have an emergency preparedness kit for whatever natural disasters or severe weather events are likely in their area. Emergency preparedness kits should be brought with you if you’re forced to evacuate and should include the following: