🌧️ Why Does Storm Season Matter for Water Safety?
Hurricane season runs through November, and heavy fall rain and nor’easters can flood streets, basements, creeks and yards across Pennsylvania and New Jersey in hours. Floodwater is a drowning risk even for strong swimmers, and the days after a storm bring new hazards: standing water, damaged pool barriers and swollen streams. Planning ahead takes a few minutes. Our water emergency action plan and layers of protection checklist are good companions to this guide.
📋 What Should You Do Before a Storm?
Decide who is the adult responsible for each child, and where your family will go if you need to leave. Move pool toys, chairs and covers out of the wind, check that pool gates latch, and charge phones. Know where your life jackets are, and make sure each fits the child who would wear it; our life jacket sizing guide shows how. Talk to children in simple words: “We never go into water after a storm, even if it looks shallow.”
⚠️ What Is the Rule During a Flood?
The National Weather Service’s rule is Turn Around, Don’t Drown. Never walk, swim or drive through floodwater. Just six inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult off their feet, and about a foot can carry away a small car. Children are lighter and can be swept away more easily, and the water can hide holes, debris and open drains. Keep children away from the edges of flooded roads, creeks and storm drains, and do not let them play in puddles or runoff. See our guides to river and stream safety and retention pond water safety.
🏠 What About Flooded Basements and Yards?
A child can drown in just a few inches of water, so a flooded basement, a bucket full of rain or a water-filled pool cover is a real hazard. Keep young children out of flooded rooms, stay away from standing water near electrical outlets, cords or appliances, and keep children within arm’s reach of any water that has collected. Our guides to bucket and small-container drowning and pool cover drowning danger explain why a small amount of water is enough.
🧹 What Should You Check After the Storm?
Floodwater can carry sewage, chemicals and germs, so keep children out of it, wash hands well after any contact and cover cuts. Walk your yard before children go out and look for downed power lines, debris and new pools of water. If you have a pool, check the fence and gate, the alarms and the drains, and do not swim until the weather has cleared and a qualified professional has checked the water and any electrical equipment. Use our pool fence and gate inspection checklist and pool drain safety checklist, and follow the lightning rules: wait for the all-clear before returning to the water.
🏊 Where Do Swim Lessons Fit In?
Lessons teach water comfort, floating and getting to the wall, and they are one important layer of protection. They do not prepare a child for moving, murky floodwater, and no child of any age is drown-proof. Keep children in lessons through the fall and winter so skills stay fresh; our fall swim skill retention checklist and winter swim lessons guide help. If a storm closes your pool or school, ask about make-up rules and use our missed-class and make-up tracker.
🖨️ Get the free printable flood and storm water safety checklist
The printable is one page. It covers a before-the-storm checklist, the rules for during a flood, a home and yard check, an after-the-storm check, a family plan with emergency contacts and a note on supervision.
Open the printable flood and storm water safety checklist →
🏊 Want Your Child to Build Water Skills This Season?
Steady weekly lessons build the comfort and skills that make every other layer of protection work better. For families in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, our pages on British Swim School in the Jersey Shore area and Northwest Philadelphia point you to the official location pages, where you can ask about levels, availability and the next session directly. You can also browse swim lessons near you.
📚 Authoritative Sources
- National Weather Service — Flood Safety: Turn Around, Don’t Drown and floodwater depth facts.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Floods: floodwater contamination and staying safe during and after a flood.
- CDC — Drowning Prevention: layers of protection, supervision and swim lessons.
- Ready.gov — Floods: preparing a family plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe for kids to play in floodwater?
No. Floodwater can hide holes, debris and open drains, can move faster than it looks, and may carry sewage, chemicals and germs. Keep children out of it entirely, and keep them away from the edges of flooded streets, creeks and storm drains too.
How deep does water have to be to be dangerous?
Not very. The National Weather Service warns that just six inches of fast-moving water can knock an adult off their feet and about a foot of water can carry away a small car. Children are lighter and are swept away even more easily, so the safe rule is never to walk, swim or drive through moving floodwater.
What does Turn Around, Don’t Drown mean?
It is the National Weather Service campaign slogan for flood safety. If a road, path or low area is covered by water, do not try to cross it on foot or by car. Turn around and find another route, because you cannot tell how deep or fast the water is, or whether the road underneath is still there.
Can a child drown in a flooded basement or a puddle?
Yes. A child can drown in very little water, including a few inches in a flooded basement, a bucket, a storm-filled pool cover or a ditch. After a storm, treat every standing-water spot as a drowning risk and keep young children within arm’s reach.
Is my pool safe to use after a storm?
Not right away. Storms can bring contaminated runoff, debris and electrical hazards, and can damage fences, gates, alarms and drains. Wait until the weather has cleared, inspect the barrier and equipment, and ask a qualified professional about the water and any electrical equipment before anyone swims.
Should kids wear life jackets during a flood or evacuation?
If your family has to move through or near water during an evacuation, a properly fitted U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket for each child is a good layer of protection. A life jacket is not a reason to enter floodwater, and an adult must stay with each child.
Do swim lessons make my child safe in floodwater?
No. Swim lessons build water comfort and skills, but they do not make a child safe in moving, murky, debris-filled floodwater, at any age. Keep children out of it and use supervision, barriers and a plan as your main protection.