UK floods: Home-made flood defences protect home

[pErvinalia]

Chicks need to check their chicky privileges in the relationship. A boat is a good as a fucking kitchen!

[laklak]

A good boat needs a kitchen. And a shitter.

[mistermack]

Femaleness. They just don't get it.

There's your problem.

They become a bit funny, when they're not getting it.

[piscator]

In the KPB, there are ordinances against DIY flood control structures. You can build a pad as high as you want, but not a dike around your yard.
The problem on the mountainous east side of the Borough is "chokes" - slot canyons that dam with debris in storms and then release, with lots of flash flooding. Also, quite a few subdivisions downstream of the chokes are built on glacial till, so a levee built by a landowner is likely to be merely a pile of gravel , which is easy for a storm torrent to blow out. But the main problem with landowners building dikes willynilly is that they divert water onto other properties that the flood may have otherwise missed.

[mistermack]

In the KPB, there are ordinances against DIY flood control structures. You can build a pad as high as you want, but not a dike around your yard.
The problem on the mountainous east side of the Borough is "chokes" - slot canyons that dam with debris in storms and then release, with lots of flash flooding. Also, quite a few subdivisions downstream of the chokes are built on glacial till, so a levee built by a landowner is likely to be merely a pile of gravel , which is easy for a storm torrent to blow out. But the main problem with landowners building dikes willynilly is that they divert water onto other properties that the flood may have otherwise missed.

So long as it's restricted to a very small area around a house, I can't see that kind of problem arising very often. If it diverts a natural stream, in times of flood, then yes, that's bad. But in the case of a barrier that's close to the dwelling, then the house itself would probably have done the same thing.
If it's not directly in the way of a natural flow route, then you're just talking about a tiny volume of water, not much bigger than the floor plan of the house, getting sent on it's way. That's a tiny amount, in the overall picture of a flood.

[piscator]

In that case, they're better off sinking sheetpile and raising the house's pad...

My place is one of the few properties in my neighborhood that can get National Flood Insurance, because 1. I built my house instead of buying an existing home that had already had flood insurance claims and, 2. I made a point of putting my lowest finished floor way above the flood zone.
All the other properties in the 'hood have either filed too many claims, or are in the local flood plain and would have to pay exorbitant rates (read: "Not worth having flood insurance").

[mistermack]

All sounds like common sense to me.

They should try it over here.

[laklak]

Flood rates are insane. Friend of mine sold his home a block closer to the bay because his premiums went up to $1200 a MONTH. Had to have insurance because he had a mortgage. I'm out of the flood plain (barely) and own it outright, so fuck the insurance vampires.

[piscator]

I pay a little more than that, a year...

Rising sea levels raise flood plains. NFI has to be sustainable to work...
Every 12 years, flood plains are recomputed nationwide. Folks in the Northeast have been screaming bloody murder lately...

[NineBerry]

I checked and it seems toilets and other outlets are only endangered if they are below the flood level (so mostly those in the cellar and on the ground floor. There are basically two ways to prevent bad stuff happening:

1. pumping systems in a certain setup

2. shutters that can be activated manually and block water from entering the cellar and ground floor via water pipes.

[piscator]

"Gate valve" or "Ball valve" is sure a lot easier to spell than rückstaudoppelverschluss...

[NineBerry]

I think there is a difference.

Rückstaudoppelverschluss:


A "valve gate" would simply be a "Absperrschieber"

[pErvinalia]

Holy zeitgeist!

[piscator]

I think there is a difference.

Rückstaudoppelverschluss:


A "valve gate" would simply be a "Absperrschieber"

That looks like a "flapper", a type of gate valve.
A flapper without manual actuation would be a type of "Check valve".


http://www.amazon.com/Valve-Selection-H ... 0750677171

[JimC]

We are on a hill.

I pity all you low-landers...