 |
|
|
UER Store
|
|
order your copy of Access All Areas today!
|
|
|
|
Activity
|
|
733 online
Server Time:
2024-05-07 15:18:05
|
|
|
 NezMo
Location: Worcester, Massachusetts
Gender: Male
 |  |  | Drain Flooding
< on 10/1/2005 2:29 PM >
|  | | | Has this ever happened to anyone? I'm doing my first major drain today (approx. 4 miles) I know its at least 2 meters wide, larger in most parts, but the other day it was raining and i saw the water coming up from the storm drains. It's not supposed to rain today, but knowing New England weather, I think i should be prepared for anything. Any expieriences or tips about drain flooding?
|
|
David Hess
Location: Long Island, New York
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 1 on 10/1/2005 5:21 PM >
|  | | | I know of people drowning while draining during a storm, even in the later run off. Just listen for running water. Or wait until it's dry.
"Let the man who seeks revenge remember to dig two graves" |
|
Macsbug
  
Noble Donor
Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male
Safety First!
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 2 on 10/2/2005 3:53 AM >
| | | | If there are no viable exits once you get deep in there, and it starts raining, you better pray and run, because there is a good chance of being seriously injured or killed. Be sure that it is not going to rain, and if you are going somewhere really far in, and the drain permits, why not bike instead of walk.
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it." |
|
Arrow
Noble Donor
Location: Minneapolis
Gender: Male
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 3 on 10/2/2005 4:00 AM >
| | | | Posted by Macsbug
If there are no viable exits once you get deep in there, and it starts raining, you better pray and run, because there is a good chance of being seriously injured or killed. Be sure that it is not going to rain, and if you are going somewhere really far in, and the drain permits, why not bike instead of walk.
|
And if you're especially worried about it, don't go into a drain that has Death PillarsTM at the outfall. How'd you like to smack into those when the tunnel fills up to the halfway point? At least at some outfalls you'd just be dumped into the river.
|
|
ArmchairExplorer
Location: Vancouver
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 4 on 10/2/2005 5:43 AM >
| | | | Cave Clan has the right idea:
"When it rains, no drains."
|
|
Kay O. Sweaver
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Gender: Male
Happiness is saying yes more often than no.
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 5 on 10/2/2005 7:23 AM >
| | | | Knowledge is the best defense. As I always do when it comes to drains I recommend, nay command you to read <predator>'s approach.doc located at http://www.urbex.o...oach/approach.html
This is mandatory reading for all drainers.
Now...
First if possible you should determine what the design standards are for your area in terms of the stormwater system. For instance here in Calgary the majority of our system is built to withstand a 1 in 100 year storm. That means that there's plenty of excess capacity for most storm situations. A system designed for 1:5 or 1:2 will fill up much more quickly and frequently. Watch out.
Second, you need to know the weather and weather patterns of your area. Is it going to rain? What's the POP? How much rain? When it rains there does it come down in a torrential downpour or does it just drizzle?
Three, check the high water marks in the drain, that'll give you an idea of what you're dealing with. There will usually be a line of sediment or water stains or debris along the wall of the tunnel that indicates the highest level the water has reached recently. If there's garbage on the ceiling, worry.
Four, read the approach.doc again. Really, <predator> tells you everything you could possibly need to know. I've been in drains when its raining, but they're drains I knew were outrageously overdesigned. Other drains can fill up very, very quickly. When in doubt, don't do it and if you do, stay sharp and always err on the side of caution.
==========================
Amy Smith is an infected slut |
|
mist929292
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Gender: Male
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 6 on 10/2/2005 9:25 PM >
| | | |
This is very good info. Thanks Kay.
|
|
HillbillyHorus
 
Location: Charlottesville Virginia
Gender: Male
Im in ur government, killin ur d00dz
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 7 on 10/6/2005 1:04 AM >
| | | | I was once in a drain when it rained, but I wasn't really in it yet. I knew it was going to rain, so I was just messing around with friends. I ran in about 30 feet to the first grate, then 60 feet to the next grate. We were just shouting stuff out of it, and freaking out the neighborhood dogs. We stayed in for the whole storm, knowing that we could get out pretty quickly if it started to flood. In the end, the water level was about 2 inches. Here, when it rains it usually just drizzles on and off all day, but I still wouldn't drain if I knew it there were going to be a storm.
You can't fall off a mountain. |
|
Random
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Gender: Male
Partially Retired
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 8 on 10/6/2005 2:16 AM >
| | | | I've been under in a few storms, but they were small storms. I also took the precaution of checking the water level at the outfall, making sure it was at an easily negotiable level.
|
|
Disgrace
Location: Saint John, New Brunswick
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 9 on 10/6/2005 5:02 PM >
| | | | As the Approach document mentions, water speeds can get pretty ridiculous in a drain. You do not want to be in one when it floods. Any waterflow that can make 60kg concrete blocks disappear is probably going to turn your limbs into jelly by the time you hit calm water.
"When it rains, no drains."
Words to live by.
|
|
Kay O. Sweaver
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Gender: Male
Happiness is saying yes more often than no.
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 10 on 10/6/2005 8:18 PM >
| | | | Its true, water level isn't the only issue. When I was in Fortress during a torrential downpour the water level wasn't even over a foot (the drain is far too big for its catchment). Seems perfectly safe right? Wrong. The water was rushing so quickly that if you walked into the centre of the flow you had to fight to stay standing, one slip and you'd be white water rafting, sans raft. The slide and the bars at the end would hurt like a mofo.
==========================
Amy Smith is an infected slut |
|
Warchyld
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Personal Text
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 11 on 10/7/2005 1:32 AM >
| | | | yeah, even a foot of rushing water can give you minor problems.
I do not think a person would be able to fight against waist high.
Anyone ever notice rebar sticking out at intervals in thier drains? Imagine being washed out through that. Not to mention that concrete is bad enough to scrape over. slammed into a wall in a curve? getting thrown off a waterfall and into the wall, then falling into a catch basin with a broken pelvis, spine or skull? Not that you would die from those injuries, cause you would drown in the catch basin at the bottom of the fall. Water would pummel down on top of you. It might drop a slab of concrete or some bricks down into the catch basin as well.
You might get flushed out into the river though. Hopefully there arent any concrete pillars or obstructions at the outfall. Hopefully you didnt break anything you need for swimming out of the river. Even then, you better hurry up and climb the bank, cause you are prolly losing blood due to the fact that you are missing large patches of skin and flesh from your trip down a giant cheese grater.
so, I guess if you want to risk being skinned alive, beat almost to death, and then drowning...
Bah, thats prolly an exaggeration anyways. go ahead, go into the drain when there is danger of flooding. I am sure everything will be just fine.
[last edit 10/7/2005 1:47 AM by Warchyld - edited 1 times]
"If you are not cheating, you are not trying" |
|
HillbillyHorus
Location: Charlottesville Virginia
Gender: Male
Im in ur government, killin ur d00dz
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 12 on 10/7/2005 11:57 PM >
| | | | You guys are right. Foot-deep water would be more than enough to carry you away, but it's safe if you're just messing around in the first part of it. I would never go more than 100 ft. into a drain if it was raining. It can be pretty damn cool in there though, even if you're near the entrance. If the drain has a turn within your limit, it makes it as dark as if you were a mile in. It's pretty cool to watch the PVCs and side drains gushing water in. Just try not to get any water in cuts, as dog crud gets washed into drains during a storm.
You can't fall off a mountain. |
|
Latex731
Location: East Orange, NJ
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 13 on 10/14/2005 3:16 AM >
| | | | Stay out of the drain if it's raining, has just rained or about to rain. We are about to go into one that normally has only a trickle. It's been raining for days here and the water is running very fast and several feet deep with debris in it. Even through it's only a few feet deep, the force of the water would make it difficult for you to move much less explore.
|
|
HillbillyHorus
Location: Charlottesville Virginia
Gender: Male
Im in ur government, killin ur d00dz
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 14 on 10/14/2005 11:41 AM >
| | | | Posted by Latex731
Stay out of the drain if it's raining, has just rained or about to rain. We are about to go into one that normally has only a trickle. It's been raining for days here and the water is running very fast and several feet deep with debris in it. Even through it's only a few feet deep, the force of the water would make it difficult for you to move much less explore.
|
That much water is more than enough to prevent exploring! It could sweep you away!
There's one drain here (Wetnut 29) which has waist deep water at one point. I've never been to it though, this is a drain tick found.
You can't fall off a mountain. |
|
Random
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Gender: Male
Partially Retired
| | | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 15 on 10/14/2005 4:03 PM >
| | | | Posted by Horus
There's one drain here (Wetnut 29) which has waist deep water at one point. I've never been to it though, this is a drain tick found.
|
I've seen that one. The water isn't bad normally, but if you got a nice storm, I'd imagine that end would fill up rather nicely.
|
|
ArmchairExplorer
Location: Vancouver
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 16 on 10/14/2005 10:37 PM >
| | | | Posted by Latex731
We are about to go into one that normally has only a trickle. It's been raining for days here and the water is running very fast and several feet deep with debris in it. Even through it's only a few feet deep, |
'Only' a few feet deep?
Set foot in that and you stand a near-certain chance of being swept away to your death.
|
|
Kay O. Sweaver
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Gender: Male
Happiness is saying yes more often than no.
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 17 on 10/15/2005 10:59 PM >
| | | | Not necessarily, its the combination of flow and volume that cause problems. Mass x velocity. Large mass with low velocity = no problem, likewise high velocity with low mass = no problem. You have to judge it case by case, but always err on the side of caution.
==========================
Amy Smith is an infected slut |
|
MacGyver
Location: St Paul, Minnesota
Gender: Male
"Someone go find me a paperclip, a D-cell battery, and a cheese grater"
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 18 on 10/18/2005 3:38 AM >
| | | | I can personally attest that a foot of water in a drain with a typical slope is damn near impossible to walk in. I was with two friends in a local (very neat) drain when an unexpected rain came upon the topside world. The first thing I noticed was that the atmosphere in the tunnel suddenly became much foggier/mistier than it was several minutes before. Next was a slight swell of water (maybe a half inch rise, where this drain normally has only an inch or three in the center of the channel) accompanied by a ton of cigarette butts, leaves, twigs, and other street garbage like styrofoam peanuts, candy wrappers, and paper.
After the majority of the small waste flowed by, it only got bigger as the water began ro rise rapidly. Within about 5 minutes, the water was up from a lazily-flowing two inches (in the middle only) to 8-10 inches of fast-flowing murky torrent at the shallowest areas along the walls. We had to work very hard to move forward, and our only known exit was about a half mile (or more) upstream from our current location.
The water crested at about a foot deep, and was flowing so quickly that my feet needed to be lifted clear of the water in order to move without sliding backwards or falling (and I had about $1500 of photo equipment on my back, so I sure as hell wasn;t going to fall!)
Near the exit, a log several inches in diameter and a few feet long smashed into the lead person's ankles underwater, nearly putting him on his face (and he had plenty of photographic stuff in his pack, too). After he managed to step over it without being swept from his feet, it crashed into the person behind me (heh) and he had to perform the same exercise to free himself without falling.
Climbing out of the manhole, we found a blue sky and streets that were barely damp, and a later check of weather data revelaed that the rainfall that raised the drain's level and flow by a very significant amount was merely a tenth of an inch of rainfall. Barely measurable. I can assure you that if there had been an inch or two of rain, I probably wouldn't be here to recount this.
I suppose the lesson of the story is to always check the weather for precip, even if it doesn't look threatening outside when you go under. It sounds so simple, but it's something very easy to forget.
I know that there have been several deaths around the world caused by people being either surprised by a storm while inside a drain or swept into an infall by a rising ditch or stream. If you do find yourself trapped far from safety with quickly rising water or some serious foreshadowing (a slurry of cigarette butts, etc.), I would recommend climbing a manhole shaft if one is near you. You probably have a much better chance waiting out the worst of the floodwaters safely up the shaft than trudging through the torrent below. If worse comes to worst, you are next to a potential emergency exit. Beware that you'll probably end up in a street or road, which carries a great chance of injury or death from a vehicle strike, so opening the lid from below should be saved for a last resort.
Here's a photo of one friend after we exited the drain and were packing gear at the cars, demonstrating the soak-power of jogging upstream in an 8" to 12" deep torrent:
Like a fiend with his dope / a drunkard his wine / a man will have lust for the lure of the mine
"If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent." |
|
SteamPunk
Location: Sailing the seas of sleaze.
| | Re: Drain Flooding
<Reply # 19 on 10/18/2005 5:58 AM >
|  | | | Yes, it's all true. drain+rain=hell. Draining season is over for the year here in Vancouver, till spring, as we will get several dozens of feet of rain in the next few months.
I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too! |
|
|
|
All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site:
UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service |
View Privacy Policy |
Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 265 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 740933211 pages have been generated.
|
|
