UK floods: Home-made flood defences protect home

[mistermack]

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").

Of course, the irony is that you can get flood insurance, but what's the point if you know the place can't flood?
It's a bit like me paying pregnancy insurance.

[pErvinalia]

Doesn't mean it can't flood. It's just above some level (probably 1 in 100 year flood level) that makes it worth the risk to insure.

[mistermack]

Doesn't mean it can't flood. It's just above some level (probably 1 in 100 year flood level) that makes it worth the risk to insure.

There is a level above which it's a waste of time paying flood insurance.
Like Jim. He lives on a hill, so if he floods, the insurance companies will all go broke anyway so he won't get anything.

Like you say, a 1 in 100 year risk is maybe worth the premiums.
Sounds like what Piscator has done puts him above that sort of flood risk level though.

[Hermit]

Oh, the contrast. While severe floods plague northern England, a trickle of water flowing in Queensland's 900 kilometre long Diamantina River, which has been bone dry for four years, makes made the evening news on the first of January, replete with a video of said trickle. And two days later there was a more comprehensive follow-up about the event. The man who filmed it said "It does show that it can rain again."

Floods do occasionally occur in that catchment, but none of the water ever reaches the sea. At best it pools in Lake Eyre, which is 16 metres below sea level and is completely dry for more years than not. Then it just evaporates. Lake Eyre has filled up seven times since 1885.

[JimC]

Good rains in central Queensland the other day, Hermit, the cow cockies are happy. I'm hoping a fair bit will come down the Darling, and re-fill the almost dry Menindee lakes near Broken Hill...

[piscator]

Doesn't mean it can't flood. It's just above some level (probably 1 in 100 year flood level) that makes it worth the risk to insure.

There is a level above which it's a waste of time paying flood insurance.
Like Jim. He lives on a hill, so if he floods, the insurance companies will all go broke anyway so he won't get anything.

Like you say, a 1 in 100 year risk is maybe worth the premiums.
Sounds like what Piscator has done puts him above that sort of flood risk level though.

Both right. "The floodplain" refers to the 100-year flood. Yes, I filled to build above it. Yes, I have NFI max flood insurance, but it only covers about 1/2 the value of the house.
I'm a licensed civil engineer and surveyor, so checking for flood risk is obvious to me, and it was a simple matter to fetch what little public info there was to get started on a rough appreciation of the local hydrology, which is not at all simple.
Long story short, there were 8 lots available in this S/D when I looked it over, and I bought the only one protected by a mountain from the blowouts of the steep creeks, and by plain old elevation above the slow creeks. I gave up some scenic view as opposed to other lots, and I have possible exposure to rockslides in a big earthquake, but 15 years later I don't have the flood problems my neighbors do, even though I cross 2 bridges to get 1/2 mile to the main road.

[mistermack]

Oh, the contrast. While severe floods plague northern England, a trickle of water flowing in Queensland's 900 kilometre long Diamantina River, which has been bone dry for four years, makes made the evening news on the first of January, replete with a video of said trickle. And two days later there was a more comprehensive follow-up about the event. The man who filmed it said "It does show that it can rain again."

Floods do occasionally occur in that catchment, but none of the water ever reaches the sea. At best it pools in Lake Eyre, which is 16 metres below sea level and is completely dry for more years than not. Then it just evaporates. Lake Eyre has filled up seven times since 1885.

If Lake Eyre became full permanently, I wonder what that would do to the groundwater in that part of Australia?
You would think that it would make it far more salty than it is already. It would be like having the dead sea on your doorstep.
Unless the fact that it's below sea level could prevent it from leaching into the rocks.

[NineBerry]

We are on a hill.

I pity all you low-landers...

Lots of rain and flooding in Western Central Europe at the moment.

The place where I grew up is on a hill. My mother still lives in the house where I grew up and my brother lives in the house opposite with his family. Basically 300 metres above the areas around. The street where I grew up is the highest point on the hill. Still, this weekend, the cellar of my mother's house was flooded like most houses in the street. Water not coming in through doors or windows but through the water pipes. The house of my brother was one of the few ones in the street that had no water in the cellar and only because he had some years ago installed some system for storing and reusing rain water which also included a pump/valve system that would protect against flooded drain pipes.

[piscator]

I'll wager new building codes will mandate check valves in all sanitary sewer connections across broad swaths of Europe henceforth.

We should get together and market backwater prevention devices in Europe. The key is to lobby local governments to mandate them on ALL sanitary sewer connections over the next 20 years.
It's honest work. And we'd sell something designed to last a couple centuries, so we'd leave the world a little better than how we found it. Nevermind that a check valve with a gate valve behind is no act of genius - ACME BPDs will serve our customer and serve us in the process.

[Scot Dutchy]

Just dont get flooded. Here they are doubling up on the rainwater sewage systems for flash floods making sure that is the worse case scenario the water can be taken away. We have valves fitted has standard here to stop rain water flooding up waste sewage systems. Channelling is the worst thing you can do in a flood area as you are just moving the problem. Just make sure you have enough space for the water. This has been done in Limburg and Brabant where the major rivers enter the country. They are built for the once in a century flood. Our sea dykes are being raised another two metres

[piscator]

Thanks for that report, Scott. Try to keep your fingers out of the dykes, as that may prove dangerous if old stories still contain a kernel of truth.

[pErvinalia]

Only female fingers in dykes.

[Scot Dutchy]

Thanks for that report, Scott. Try to keep your fingers out of the dykes, as that may prove dangerous of old stories still contain a kernel of truth.

Well our sea dykes are generally quite wide.




River ones are narrower:



Need a lot of maintenance which has to be paid for. We pay a dyke tax of about €400 a year.

[pErvinalia]

Lesbian tax!!

[Scot Dutchy]

Lesbian tax!!

We have plenty of those as well but we dont have to pay tax for them luckily.