How effective are life jackets in rapidly flowing deep flood waters?

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I am surely not a swimmer, but after the recent tragic flooding in Texas, it got me and my roommate wondering...

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They'll still keep you afloat, but the bigger danger is being hit by objects being moved by said water.

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Life jackets will save or can kill in sinking boats or planes. You cannot overcome them if you are trapped inside, floating before exiting.

I would rather have a diving BCD in most cases where floatation is needed. That enables adjusting floatation regardless of weight. They can be manually inflated in a pinch.

However, in a flood, the water is not as problematic as the debris carried in the water. You need to get out of the way and stay out of the water at all costs. If you are unable to escape the water front, you are unlikely to have a flotation device handy either.

If Texas is so incompetent of a government to be unreliable for flood warning. I would be looking at making my own solar powered remote sensor with a node radio network. There are cheap Arduino components to build such a thing for a hundred bucks these days. If government is so inept, making anything that appears official in nature somewhere remote will go unquestioned. You can do anything you want in life if you just wear a plain used white hardhat, a reflective vest, well worn boots, and carry a clipboard.

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And you hitting submerged objects that aren't flowing. I remember cutting my hand on a rock while going through rapids with a life jacket on. You need to practice keeping your feet downstream when in whitewater conditions.

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Remember: government has been made to be inept. It shouldn't be inept. This is just what happens when people repeatedly vote for people that say government doesn't work. Well, you guarantee it by voting in people who say such things! Like hiring a hater for a company's PR team, it's utterly brainless, and that explains why Texas has done it so much.

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But the life jackets help a fuckton when you encounter submerged of floating debris by helping you not g3t trapped and pinned by debris.

Most my experience is from kayaking creeks and rivers after large rain storms. Its as close as you can get to real flood conditions, in my opinion. The biggest danger is under tows amd getting pinned by the current against or under a downed tree. The life jacket is going to keep you above most under water obstacles that you would find your self pinned against without a jacket.

The biggest thing to remember if you are worried about being caught in a flood or have little experience swimming in waters with strong currents is: YOU ARE NOT STRONGER THAN THE CURRENT. You always want to let the current take you and focus all your energy on angling towards one bank or the other. Dont try and swim against the current battling to get to shore. You will get too tired to make it and will be helpless once your muscles are shot. Keep on ypur back and your head above water as much as you can and ride it out till the current calms down or the bank is close enough for you to touch ground.

Its scary as fuck being trapped under water but the only way out is to stay calm and not panic. Life jackets help in every scenario.

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Also getting caught in debris and being pulled under harder than the life jacket lifts you up.

Life jacket still better than no jacket!

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Indeed. I was in a thread on Reddit about exactly this subject, and it was truly bizarre how adamant a lot of people were about how you should not having a life jacket. They were pointing out all these things - you could get trapped inside your house, it doesn't save you from being hit by debris, it doesn't protect you against diseases that are in the water.

Yeah, those are all bad things. Don't jump into floodwaters for fun! Stay out of the flood water if you can at all possibly manage it. But if I'm in a place where I might end up falling into floodwaters anyway, it's far far better to have a life vest on than to not have it on.

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Life jackets also get caught on things. So if it's wide open and free from anything to snag on, great, enjoy the terrifying not-lazy river ride. If there are things to snag on, like I assume the Texas flash floods, then a lifejacket would also be a liability.

I've done some downriver rapids canoe/kayak stuff, by no means an expert nor even knowledgeable hobbyist. On a certain river trip, fast-flowing with lots of submerged trees, they had us drill unclipping jackets and wriggling out of them while submerged.

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As someone who works on ships, it's truly baffling how many "but what if...!? Life jacket bad!" you see in the intertubes.

I have one of these auto-inflaters and I always wear it on deck. Yes, the color will make me more visible to sharks and a myriad of other theoretical hazards, but I still would prefer not to drown.

One important note: if you for some reason need to wear BOTH an inflatable life jacket and a climbing harness (which I sometimes need to do), make sure to put on the climbing harness first. The harness will not give way to an inflating life jacket, but your chest and ability to breathe will.

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Another important design feature is that a properly worn life jacket will keep your face out of the water if you were to lose consciousness while wearing it.

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The will work in that environment if you have the right type.

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As I understand it, rapid flood waters will likely crush you to death with debris, or you'll get stuck underwater. A vest won't save you from either of those.

But if you have one, wear it. Swimming ability won't help you if you're unconscious or exhausted. Ideally, you stay out of the water, but if you can't, you'll be better off with a life jacket on.

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If the water conditions are so bad you would consider a life jacket a liability, you’re just fucked. The debris your jacket could get caught on is the stuff that’ll knock you insensate, and then you drown

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You want a Type-1, made to keep an unconscious adult on their back with their head out of the water for an extended period of time. I use type 3 when I canoe on the lake. I'm not a whitewater enthusiast. The type 1 are made for offshore shit where the person might be knocked out when they fall off the boat.

But yeah, in a flash flood it's only going to keep you on top. Probably get smashed by a tree or a car or something. Best to stay out of floodwater.

edit: but better a type 3 or even a ring than nothing. If I was in a hurricane or flash flood situation I'd rather have a type 1

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A life jacket can't effectively protect you against debris, but it can help keep you from drowning from exhaustion as you try to dodge and seek an escape. And if you do die anyway, it could help your body be found, for the sake of those who mourn you.

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A life jacket can't effectively protect you against debris, but it can help keep you from drowning from exhaustion as you try to dodge and seek an escape. And if you do die anyway, it could help your body be found, for the sake of those who mourn you.

Also: if it's physically possible for you, please learn to swim.

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"It's not that the water is flowing, it's hwat the water brings with it.

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Thank you and everyone else for all the informative comments!

Back in 2014, I actually did kinda force myself to learn to swim, once, in a deep river with a current. I wasn't all that great at swimming, but I managed to resurface and start swimming towards the shore before someone else swam out to help me.

I think I could have managed to swim to shore myself, but at a struggle as it was my first time ever trying to swim. Regardless, at least I have one experience under my belt.

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"If the water is carrying a Volvo, it doesn't matter how many crunches you did that day."

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How effective are life jackets in rapidly flowing deep flood waters?