ROANOKE, Va. – With localized flooding potentially becoming a huge issue, AAA told 10 News to check your car before heading into messy roads. Making sure your lights and windshield wipers work can make a nasty drive safer.
“If you are able to delay travel, so you don’t have to go out, that might be your best bet in situations like this where we’re talking about heavy rain or the potential for winter weather,” Morgan Dean, AAA Mid-Atlantic Spokesperson, said.
AAA said that keeping your distance from the car in front of you and slowing down while driving is a priority.
“Six inches of water is enough to stop a car engine sometimes, especially if they sit low enough. Twelve inches can carry away a car [and] 24 inches is enough to carry away most SUVs and trucks. You don’t want to drive into that puddle. You don’t know if it’s hiding damage to the roadways. You don’t know if it’s hiding some other hazard,” Dean said.
Appalachian Power Spokesperson, George Porter said to start preparing for any weather-related power outages.
“We would advise everyone to start preparing for the possibility of power outages. Get your batteries for your flashlights, get your portable generators out and get those instructions together. Just start the preparations for the possibility of power outages,” Porter said.
AEP told us that with rain weakening the soil and wind starting to pick up, that combination is the ideal condition for power lines to fall and an outage to happen. Porter said hours can turn into days, so make sure you think of everything you could need during an outage.
“Do you have all the medication that you need handy? Have you made arrangements for your pet? Do you have that dog food? Do you have water? Do you have a radio handy? You know, different things like that. Ideally, the power goes out, the first thought in your mind is, ‘Oh, it will be a couple of hours,’” Porter said.
You can view an AEP power outage map here.