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How Do People Get Electrocuted in Floods?

Floods occur when the level of a river rises above its bed and spills over inhabited areas. Floods also happen when water accumulates in a bowl-shaped geographical feature and the water level rises above the bank or watershed. Death during floods are usually due to drowning, but can also result from electrocution. During floods, you can be electrocuted at home by your home's electrical system, or outside by lightning or a falling electric line.

  1. Lightning

    • Flooding is sometimes accompanied with lightning. When striking water, lightning can be dangerous up to 100 feet from where it struck. That distance can be increased if the lightning finds conductive material such as metallic pipes. Lightning can also be a problem if people need to take refuge in their house or car roof to protect themselves from rapidly rising water.

    Home Electric

    • Light flooding inside the home can also be dangerous if the water reaches electric components or the electric box. People have been electrocuted when walking into flooded areas of their home where the water level reaches electric outlets. It is also dangerous to switch off the electricity with wet hands or while standing in water.

    Electric Lines

    • Falling electric lines are dangerous because electric currents can still run through it hours after they fall to the ground or in water. Most high, extra high and ultrahigh voltage lines are away from populated areas, but distribution level lines of medium and low voltages are in town. Most of the lines will be severed by falling tree branches and will either lay on the ground or hang above ground. Electricity will be conducted through water or any metallic part the cable touches. Phone lines can also be dangerous to people with heart conditions or pacemakers.

    Effects

    • Electrocution can be deadly in lightning, home electric or electric line cases. Lightning and electric lines can cause severe burns because of the resistance to the electric currents from your body. Depending on the entry and exit points of electricity, the burns can prove life threatening. Ventricular fibrillation is due to the electric shock and can cause the heart to stop or beat irregularity, causing muscle death and eventually death. Electricity can also affect the brain, causing neurological effects such as loss of consciousness, muscle spasms and even neuropathy where the nervous cells are damaged permanently.

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