Preparing for flooding

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 18 Jul 2012, 21:29

Thats weird
It almost like it might be worth buying houses and waiting for the flood to topple them, claiming the rebuild cost.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 18 Jul 2012, 21:36

The King's Arms, King's Staith, York is fitted out very much as adam2's refurb described. It's practically on the river, and has been there for centuries. No sign of structural damage, and I've never seen it (for example) covered in scaffolding.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 19 Jul 2012, 11:10

Significantly, one of the first questions in getting quotes for house insurance (this is in Ireland of course, where extreme weather is becoming more prevalent) is in relation to flooding and the house's position and distance with regard to rivers and streams. This is a fairly recent phenomenon, though the question has most likely always been there - quietly, it's taken on more importance.

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 19 Jul 2012, 21:36

I'm getting quite annoyed, I live, "near" a river.
Said "river" is maybe 1m deep on average, I'm 30m above it.
I'm beginning to get "flood risk" notes, if my floor gets wet, Manchester has been wiped off the map, but hey ho.

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 19 Jul 2012, 21:53

Thanks for the update.

I didn't realise it was an older type of house. Probably stand forever now.

Post by **adam2** » 20 Jul 2012, 09:58

DominicJ wrote:Thats weird
It almost like it might be worth buying houses and waiting for the flood to topple them, claiming the rebuild cost.

Most unlikely to be worthwhile.
If structural damage from flooding was likely, insurance is unlikely to be affordable.
In the case to which I refer, any likely flood is likely to be of slow maving or near stagnant water that is unlikely to cause structural damage.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 20 Jul 2012, 21:56

Hmm cavity wall insulation's a bit of a no-no in a flood risk area innit

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 20 Jul 2012, 23:40

Seems to me that if one were to buy some land in an area prone to floods, the solution would be to dig up a bloody big trench at the perimeter of your land and pile it up on one side of the trench in the form of a dyke. The deeper the trench, the taller the dyke it would be possible to construct. A major ball-ache to construct, of course, though not technically difficult. But, once constructed, it should provide the necessary protection.

Where it would get more interesting would if if a river flowed through your land. In which case, you would need to construct a lock system whereby the river could be diverted into the trench and so circumnavigate your land during times of flood. This would necessitate that the dyke was situated on the inner side of the trench and not the outer side.

Just thinking out loud.....

SleeperService · Post by **SleeperService** » 21 Jul 2012, 09:41

stevecook172001 wrote:Seems to me that if one were to buy some land in an area prone to floods, the solution would be to dig up a bloody big trench at the perimeter of your land and pile it up on one side of the trench in the form of a dyke. The deeper the trench, the taller the dyke it would be possible to construct. A major ball-ache to construct, of course, though not technically difficult. But, once constructed, it should provide the necessary protection.

Just thinking out loud.....

A good idea steve but...when I lived in Germany an ex-pat Brit brought an abandoned farm down by the river. Said guy banked up around the house and as soon as the floods hit found that the water came up through the ground

He then had to breach the bank to let the water out.

I felt a bit sorry for him until I met him, he wasn't a nice guy at all. The locals had warned him but to no avail. Went back a couple of years ago it's all gone now and back to grazing land.

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 21 Jul 2012, 10:35

Steve
its not a long term solution.

Eventualy, and reasonably quickly, you end up with the river bed above the the surrounding land

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 21 Jul 2012, 14:01

SleeperService wrote:
stevecook172001 wrote:Seems to me that if one were to buy some land in an area prone to floods, the solution would be to dig up a bloody big trench at the perimeter of your land and pile it up on one side of the trench in the form of a dyke. The deeper the trench, the taller the dyke it would be possible to construct. A major ball-ache to construct, of course, though not technically difficult. But, once constructed, it should provide the necessary protection.

Just thinking out loud.....
A good idea steve but...when I lived in Germany an ex-pat Brit brought an abandoned farm down by the river. Said guy banked up around the house and as soon as the floods hit found that the water came up through the ground He then had to breach the bank to let the water out.

I felt a bit sorry for him until I met him, he wasn't a nice guy at all. The locals had warned him but to no avail. Went back a couple of years ago it's all gone now and back to grazing land.

OK, I've got another one....

Instead of putting a trench and dyke around the perimeter of the land, build up a relatively small section of land in the middle where you can place your dwelling and other essential buildings such as those you may need to store crops/stock/machinery in etc. When you get a flood, just bring all of your essentials up onto the higher bit and sit it out.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 21 Jul 2012, 15:13

As a massive crest of water surges south along the Mississippi River, many residents are being forced to pack up and head for higher ground as their homes are tragically inundated with floods.

But some resourceful residents have set up barriers around their homes in attempts to keep the water out, creating virtual islands as the river overtakes the surrounding neighborhoods.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/149868/ ... slands.htm

SleeperService · Post by **SleeperService** » 21 Jul 2012, 15:27

stevecook172001 wrote:
SleeperService wrote:
stevecook172001 wrote:Seems to me that if one were to buy some land in an area prone to floods, the solution would be to dig up a bloody big trench at the perimeter of your land and pile it up on one side of the trench in the form of a dyke. The deeper the trench, the taller the dyke it would be possible to construct. A major ball-ache to construct, of course, though not technically difficult. But, once constructed, it should provide the necessary protection.

Just thinking out loud.....
A good idea steve but...when I lived in Germany an ex-pat Brit brought an abandoned farm down by the river. Said guy banked up around the house and as soon as the floods hit found that the water came up through the ground He then had to breach the bank to let the water out.

I felt a bit sorry for him until I met him, he wasn't a nice guy at all. The locals had warned him but to no avail. Went back a couple of years ago it's all gone now and back to grazing land.
OK, I've got another one....

Instead of putting a trench and dyke around the perimeter of the land, build up a relatively small section of land in the middle where you can place your dwelling and other essential buildings such as those you may need to store crops/stock/machinery in etc. When you get a flood, just bring all of your essentials up onto the higher bit and sit it out.

As JohnB's link shows that can be made to work. Just make sure rabbits don't get established

Looks like a couple of the houses were suffering from seepage though. Maybe an elevated island would be best.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 21 Jul 2012, 15:38

SleeperService wrote:
stevecook172001 wrote:
SleeperService wrote: A good idea steve but...when I lived in Germany an ex-pat Brit brought an abandoned farm down by the river. Said guy banked up around the house and as soon as the floods hit found that the water came up through the ground He then had to breach the bank to let the water out.

I felt a bit sorry for him until I met him, he wasn't a nice guy at all. The locals had warned him but to no avail. Went back a couple of years ago it's all gone now and back to grazing land.
OK, I've got another one....

Instead of putting a trench and dyke around the perimeter of the land, build up a relatively small section of land in the middle where you can place your dwelling and other essential buildings such as those you may need to store crops/stock/machinery in etc. When you get a flood, just bring all of your essentials up onto the higher bit and sit it out.
As JohnB's link shows that can be made to work. Just make sure rabbits don't get established Looks like a couple of the houses were suffering from seepage though. Maybe an elevated island would be best.

I agree, an island would be best. However, I can think of at least one solution to the seepage problem with a dyke and trench system. What you would need to do would be to dig a pond somewhere inside the protected area and allow any seepage to drain into there. As soon as it got full, you would only need a simple pumping system to pump it back out over the other side of the dyke and you would only need to do this when things got bad enough and for the limited time the flood was occurring.

The island system would be best though because it would not require any active maintenance during a flood. I would guess the reason those photos only show dyke systems is because the houses are already there and the island system would require that they were pulled own and then rebuilt.

SleeperService · Post by **SleeperService** » 21 Jul 2012, 15:40

The example I gave you'd have needed a hell of a pump. IIRC the area contained was about 50M by 100M. The bank was about 2.5M high. It filled in about ten minutes

I think the island is safest with all things considered.