• Question: Don't you risk your life while surveying the monsoon flood?

    Asked by Annie to Daniel on 10 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Daniel Parsons

      Daniel Parsons answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Hello,
      It can get a bit scary at times – last year quite a few people did die in the flood. The river when we were surveying last year was travelling at over 4 m/s – that is a very very strong current and the river is several kilometres wide – so we have to be careful. But we have lots of training (like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7mDmWye4QQ) and have life jackets and radios so that we can stay safe when we are doing our work.
      The monsoon flood last year was not however the scariest situation I have been in doing surveys. About 2 years ago I was working in the Columbia River Estuary in the USA. I was surveying a sand bar at low tide and it got misty very quickly just before the tide started to come back in…I had to find my way back to the boat using my compass and handheld GPS and got there as the water was up around my knees!
      Thanks for the question!

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