Resilient Design Strategies For Flooding

Flooding is a major concern for consideration in a resilient building design. Depending on your location, different natural disasters can cause flooding in your region and home. Hence, it is important to design our homes, cities and neighbourhoods to be resilient against flooding.

Effects Of Flooding

One of the most devastating effects of some natural disaster is flooding.

Heavy rains from tropical storms, hurricanes and other similar weather systems can dump a lot of rain in a matter of minutes or hours. This can cause roads to turn into rivers and rivers and waterways to burst their banks.

High winds can also push seawater on to the shore as storm surges.

Earthquakes and underwater volcanic eruptions can produce tsunamis, pushing the sea into coastal neighbourhoods with devastating force.

The effects of rising sea levels have and will to continue to have severe impacts on coastal regions all over the world.
Small tropical islands are particularly susceptible to the negative impacts of such natural disasters and flooding.

Governmental agencies have a large part to play in protecting cities, districts and coastal regions from flood damage. This can be through proper stormwater management systems and zoning restrictions.

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However, they are some things you can consider as a potential homeowner, to prevent flood damage, when planning your new home.

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Avoid Coastal and Flood Prone Regions

This may be the best way to avoid any issues with potential flooding. However, this is sometimes easier said than done.
Some of the most prime real estates on tropical islands are their coastal properties.

Land scarcity in small islands may also force you into building in areas that could be susceptible to flooding. Demand for housing in such regions mean that development in flood-prone areas may be necessary.

Sometimes new construction developments can also cause flooding in areas that weren’t traditionally prone to flooding.

More hard surfaces like roads, pavements and the roofs of buildings can increase the volume of stormwater.

Hence, it may be difficult to decide not to build in an area that may experience flooding.

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If you have to build in a coastal or flood-prone area, consider some strategies to reduce your risk of flood damage.

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Elevate Your Home

Raise the primary functions or your entire home above the flood high water mark. This ensures that you, your home and most of your possessions are protected when floodwater rises.

This method is probably the most common one. It was used on traditional homes.

Build your home on stilts. This will allow floodwaters to safely pass or accumulate under your home, without causing any damage.

However, with climate change and rising sea levels, it may become increasingly challenging to definitively predict what future high water marks may look like.

Dry Floodproofing

In a two or more-storey home, you can consider making the lower level watertight.

This involves designing your home to resist the pressure and other effects of floodwater. Hence, preventing water from entering your home.

The walls of your home would have to be designed, built and sealed to resist floodwater from entering. They would have to be properly constructed to avoid possible failure. This can place tremendous forces on your home. As such, this will increase the cost to your construction project.

Windows and doors will also need to be able to resist the entry of floodwaters. Additional temporary items like sandbags could be used to help protect them from water getting in.

Wet Floodproofing

The other option is to design, build and furnish the lower level of your home to be resilient to floodwaters.

Unlike dry floodproofing, this method allows water to enter your home. However, it uses construction and furniture materials that have minimal to no impact from floodwaters.

Electrical outlets should be raised and major home appliances and equipment should be eliminated from that area.

You should also avoid putting primary functional rooms on that lower floor as you may have to exist without them until the water recedes.

Wet floodproofing typically has a cheaper construction cost than dry floodproofing. However, it does not protect the contents of your home that are susceptible to water damage.

Conclusion

Flooding can have a significant impact on your home. In tropical regions, it is a major concern for many coastal and flood-prone areas.

Where possible, avoid choosing a site or home that is in a flood-prone area. Coastal regions should also be avoided.

However, this is sometimes unavoidable. In such situations, consider raising your home above the likely high-water mark of the worst-case flooding scenario.

You can also consider building a multi-story home where the lower level is designed to keep all water out. Alternatively, you can design the lower level to let water in but in a way that causes minimum damage to the structure and some contents of your home.

Ensure that you protect your home with good resilient design strategies against flooding.

Featured image by Chris Gallagher on Unsplash