Flash floods are the number one cause of weather related deaths. The sheer force of just six inches of swiftly moving water can knock people off their feet. Cars are easily swept away in just two feet of water.
Flash floods can occur with little or no warning-and can reach full peak within minutes.
Rapidly rising walls of water can reach heights of 30 feet or more and are generally accompanied by a deadly cargo of debris. No area is immune to flash floods. In mountainous regions flash floods can strike with little or no warning. District rain may be channeled into gullies and ravines, turning a quiet streamside campsite into a rampaging torrent in minutes. In areas recently ravaged and left exposed by wildfire, such as the 1994 Chelan County burn, heavy rains from thunderstorms or warm rain and snowmelt, can also create mudslides and landslides, as well as flash floods.