SURVIVEFlood Simulator
Flood maps tell you whether you sit in a zone. They do not tell you whether you could get out. This flood simulator starts from your address, finds the nearest high ground, and maps the real walking route there — then scores whether your household, at your floor, with whatever you grabbed on the way, beats the water.
What makes a flood different
A flood is the one disaster on this site that gives you warning and then punishes you for using it badly. Unlike an earthquake you often have hours; unlike a fire the danger is not behind you but beneath you, rising. That changes the fatal mistake: it is almost never failing to move, it is choosing the wrong direction or the wrong moment. Six inches of moving water takes an adult off their feet, and a foot of it floats most cars — which is why the shortest route to high ground is frequently the worst one, and why driving, the instinct that saves you in a wildfire, drowns people here. Height is your ally rather than your enemy: upper floors are refuge, not trap. This simulation weighs the distance and elevation gain to real high ground against your household's slowest walker.
Frequently asked questions
Does this show whether my house is in a flood zone?
No — and that is a deliberate boundary. Official flood-zone designations come from your national mapping agency (FEMA's Map Service Center in the US) and carry insurance and legal weight. This is an escape simulation, not a flood-zone lookup or a risk certification.
How does the flood simulator pick high ground?
It searches live map data around your address for the nearest open high ground and routes to it on the real street network, so the distance you see is a genuine walking distance rather than a straight line.
Why is walking better than driving in a flood?
About a foot of moving water is enough to float most vehicles, and the majority of flood deaths involve cars. The simulation routes you on foot for that reason — though in a real evacuation you should follow official instructions, which may well be to drive out early along a designated route.
Is my address stored?
No. It is used once, in your browser session, to place the map and build the route. Shared result links carry only a coarse city or area label, never your exact street address.