NationStates Jolt Archive

More Floods, how wonderful, will they ever stop?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7200457.stm
BBC News.
As far as i know the city i live in isn't going to suffer any flooding problems, well except maybe a few loose pieces of gutter.
So i ask you do you suffer from flooding damage in your area?
If so what's the best way to deal with it?
Run to the hills, put up sandbags, go to rent a flat for a few days, then claim insurence on flood damage, make a human chain and hope the water isn't stronger than you? Or sit back and wait till the water goes away and have a paddle?

Around here, it floods every April when the river thaws and the winter snow melts off. The best strategy is to have good dikes in place already. Barring that, sandbagging is usually effective. Barring that, sacrifice your grass and use your yard to dike your house. (Usually if you've hit this last step, you're heading for the [nonexistent] hills as soon as you're done.) Flooding isn't covered in homeowner's insurance around here -- that's separate.

Las Vegas gets some crazy flash floods but luckily I am not in a flood zone.

do you suffer from flooding damage in your area?
Fortunately not. My house is about 6 metres above sea level, and about a mile from the river, so it's all good so far.

go to rent a flat for a few days, then claim insurence on flood damage
Flooding isn't covered in homeowner's insurance around here -- that's separate.
It always surprises me that the insurance companies continue to provide flood insurance for houses that are built on flood plains. I mean, really, it's not like floods are entirely unexpected in such zones... the clue is in the name, after all.

I recall not that long ago (last Summer) the debates in Parliament raising the issue. Those who raised the spectre of inevitable flooding for yet more buildings (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/23/eagreen123.xml) built in flood zones were shouted down, told to stop playing politics (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6911119.stm) with the floods. Really, though, it's got bugger all to do with politics - it's basic geography.

Last month there were murmurings that the insurance industry was considering withholding flood cover (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/property_and_mortgages/article2994121.ece) in some areas, but nothing came of it. I wonder how long that restraint will last.

well Northamptonshire itself got buggered pretty hard in 97 however though living right near the river Nene I'm on a hill so I can laugh :)

its the perfect time for the government to be building million more homes with no consideration of flooding isn't it?

It always surprises me that the insurance companies continue to provide flood insurance for houses that are built on flood plains. I mean, really, it's not like floods are entirely unexpected in such zones... the clue is in the name, after all.

It surprised me when my insurance company offered me flood insurance, and I live on the 8th floor of my apartment building! :p

Apparently it's been bad around Leicestershire, but not in Leicester. Frankly, if you buy a house on a floodplain, you shouldn't be surprised when your house gets flooded. And where do you think the government will decide to build those 3 million new homes? Oooh, in the affluent south, where the only remaining space to build is...on floodplains.

Actually, what I hate is the media, especially tv news.

Presenter: And now we can see live pictures of XXX area...
*cuts to helicopter shot of flooded houses...where the back garden goes right up to the now burst banks of a river*

NOT A NEWS STORY! :headbang: It's right up there with dog bites man.

Frankly, if you buy a house on a floodplain, you shouldn't be surprised when your house gets flooded.
Yes and no. Yes, if you're in the 100-year floodplain and you've had 12 feet of snow in one year, you should already be on the phone with your insurance company. However, if you're in the 500-year floodplain, 12 feet of snow, 3/4 of a mile from the river and above the projected crest ... then the only way you should flood is if a.) the city forgets to pour concrete into the drains or b.) the projected flood crest is wrong.
That's how we flooded out in '97. The flood crest was projected at 49 feet, the official crest was 54.1 feet, and we were at 56 or 57 feet. Somebody screwed up somewhere because we had 4" water on the main floor, a cracked foundation, and the west wall got pushed out a foot. Oops.

Actually, what I hate is the media, especially tv news.

Presenter: And now we can see live pictures of XXX area...
*cuts to helicopter shot of flooded houses...where the back garden goes right up to the now burst banks of a river*

NOT A NEWS STORY! :headbang: It's right up there with dog bites man.

But pictures of floods are awesome! Sure, it sucks for it to happen to you, but it's so cool to watch safely from a few dozen miles away as a normally placid creek becomes a raging torrent and a back yard becomes a lake.

Anyway, while I cannot remember the last time Manhattan Island flooded, and my twelfth floor apartment is probably above the flood line anyway; assuming a catastrophic nor'easter brought the Hudson River up to 100 feet or so at Poughkeepsie I'd wait for the waters to recede a tad, convert a sofa into a boat, and paddle through the flooded streets alternately committing good deeds and mischievous pranks.

Central Queensland is under so much water at the moment you could drown Britain in there twice. But you don't see me moaning...mainly because I'm entirely unaffected. ;)

So i ask you do you suffer from flooding damage in your area?
If so what's the best way to deal with it?
Run to the hills, put up sandbags, go to rent a flat for a few days, then claim insurence on flood damage, make a human chain and hope the water isn't stronger than you? Or sit back and wait till the water goes away and have a paddle?

depends.

Where I live now, is an apartment so several floors need to flood before I get worried.

how I would deal with it? duct tape... every window, door and what not. rags between windows and plywood to soak up as much as possible.

then head over to my sister's place (she lives on the 17th floor on an apartment complex on top of a hill.)

My house is below sea level, and next to the ocean (on an island), so if it flooded I'd be dead...:(

My house is below sea level, and next to the ocean (on an island), so if it flooded I'd be dead...:(

Not if you sleep on an air mattress. :)

Not if you sleep on an air mattress. :)
But...but...what if it pops?

So, after horrific floods, half of Sheffield is drowned, and after six months of hard labour rebuilding everything...gets flooded again. Apparently where my apartment is was flooded last summer, anyway.

But it won't happen. A bit like SARS and Bird Flu.

Central Queensland is under so much water at the moment you could drown Britain in there twice. But you don't see me moaning...mainly because I'm entirely unaffected. ;)

But you see me moaning. I went on holiday to Brisbane, expecting perfect sunshine the whole time, and not only is it pouring down with rain here; but back home, the weather has decided to co-operate for once and produce a perfectly sunny January.

Also, apparently, the Gold Coast and Beaudesert had flooding back in the beginning of January, and their dams got so full that they begged the state government to lift the water restrictions.