My World is Smaller Now

All's well in Harlow, and at least the garden pond is full.
I think several towns are still suffering from the last bout of flooding (Hull for example).
Has New Orleans fully recovered from Katrina yet?
Del

Not to mention the basic corruption in New Orleans and Louisiana in general.. A lot of government funds went into the pockets of criminals rather than to rebuilding New Orleans.

We are in monsoon season here in SE Asia so lots of rain. Flooding is not much of a problem for us, but as the jungle hills get soaked then mud slides are a big problem.

We are already beginning to see mudslides...

How about some measures like these:

Survey areas where doubtful slopes lie above villages or sections of roadways. If the vegetation is shallowly rooted, plant something that propagates a good root network. Or use something like a portable mini pile-driver to set an array of, say, 3 inch x 10 foot round stakes to anchor the slope (adjusting depth to suit).

I think the main problem is that the hills are limestone outcroppings and very porous. As they soak up the rain water the pressure causes them to develop subsurface flow paths. As the subsurface paths erode, the slide comes. The jungle vegetation is very think on these hills, but as you say not very deeply rooted.

Hillsides are stabilize where necessary, but to protect every bit of road in the area would be a huge undertaking. Thousands of miles of road that weaves through the hills.

Hi lynlynch,

You are a Gent Sir!

I thank you for your concern for sure!

There is some nasty weather but hopefully not for too many more days.

The problem is with "picturesque" places, they are that way because of the lay of the land, and often that is where river/s come together tracing a route through one or more valleys. But no one stands back and scratches their head and says, "I don't know, it looks like it could flood 30 years from now", when thinking of buying a house I mean, do they? Certain 'obvious' places of danger like the foot of a mountain, or land which is below sea level are to be avoided, but some of those places people settled in because the soil was fertile and, relatives followed.............

I have been in two floods and they were not serious barely wetting the lower floors. But some Towns and parts of Cities flood every time there is hardly any rain. Again these are places, small isolated areas which are below the water table, and they are next to a river, but people are queuing up to move into these two particular places and they are pretty.

We had a good days advance warning so most people could move anything precious upstairs. But many did not heed the warnings or were away and came back to face disaster.

It is not nice, but, one can recover from a flood, not so easy recovering from fire.

Good luck............

For me you touched the correct point: people tend to move to certain regions for a reason.

The most important reason is money.

They bought that piece of land due the fact that they could afford it.

Why could they afford it? The local community knew that this land has a flood hazard, so less interesting for agriculture.

But this can be solved: just remove the top soil, fill up the gap with some meters of rubbish and put the top soild back. Gone is the flood risk.

But water flows where it can't run: this dousn't solve the issue, it just displaces the problem, or simply makes it worse as people living in safe area's now suddenly get the water.

We have the same problems here: new build houses flooded by mud.

If you looked to the scene it was clear that these were known risks: old farms standing a bit further were not hit and the land in question was not used by the farmers.

After all it is a form of corruption: local govenments know this and can prevent others to build on these terrains. But as the terrains belongs to friends and other locals they just do nothing. (changing the status to farmland/nature and thus prohibiting construction is costing the owners €€€€)

Hello Gwen,

I really appreciate your reply post Gwen, thank you.

Looks like you have thought about this and what you say is right, pretty much!

The areas I said that get flooded literally every time there is rain were built on 200 years ago. Not a whole lot of 'planning' around then!

I worked for a Firm who built several 'estates' of houses in 40 and 80 at a time. They were built on a flood plain and the water table was just 6" (150 mm) below the entrance steps of the houses.

Now the Council could easily said you can build these homes but raise then 3 feet off the current river bank level, you know? But they didn't and those brand new homes were sure to get flooded with the level of rain we get sometimes, maybe not all the time, but it only takes once to ruin someones dream of a nice 'safe' new home, right?

People like living near rivers and water, fair enough. But other homes nearby were built over 10 feet higher to try and alleviate the flood problem, and that worked. So why not apply that 'rule' to all new homes built? Before the homes are built the only extra cost would be to the three to 6 feet (~1 to 2 M) of footings or bricks from the ground work up which would be maybe an extra 2000 pounds? On homes that are selling for 250,000.00 and more that would make practically no difference!

Good luck.

In England we are addressing the problem of flooding, global warming, rising sea leavels and a gradually tilting land mass, by building on the 'Thames Gateway'
Which is esentially the Thames floodplain.
This will flood disasterously at some time killing people, however that doesn't really matter because bankers, developers and politicians will make lots of money.
Del

Hi Del,

I could not have put it any clearer!

The only problem is I am not clever enough to be a Banker. Alter one letter and it's what I think of them at this moment!

Perhaps a Banker can write in and tell me why they get millions, but still have 6,000,000,000 put to one side each year for bunus'?

Something like 2 billion with clear all charges on all overdrafts for all of the people who are not Bankers in the UK. It kind of give some idea what can be bought or paid for with 6 billion Pounds!

Any Bankers brave enough or stupid enough..............................?

.....Which is esentially the Thames floodplain. .....

and

This will flood disasterously at some time killing people, however that doesn't really matter because bankers, developers and politicians will make lots of money.

In the U.S. they try to control (actually put off) seasonal flooding by building levies. problem with that is, that controls the flooding for a period of time........until the levy fails (poor miantenance). An that flooding is more massive that is compounded by the development (by the group you pointed out) around them, which increases the devastation.

Does not matter where one is....the world is small, filled with the small types of people.

p911

If there was a prohibition on building in areas subject to the disasters caused by mother nature ( floods, fires, earthquakes, mudslides and politicians) then California would be empty and all of those fruits and nuts would be living with us. No thanks!

( floods, fires, earthquakes, mudslides and politicians) then California would be empty

Funny thing what discovering gold can do.

Hi beriberi,

If you refer to my post when you say 'prohibition', I may not have phrased my post correctly.

I am not talking of a ban on building in these areas, which after all are the proven places of fertile ground and so able to support huge communities, and help support the rest of the world?

All I am saying is any dwelling should have a living space which is higher than the likely highest flood. And certainly above the water table.

This may also mean not allowing the use of wood as a structure for the ground floor part of the building. This leaves steel, brick, stone/s and concrete. I can see no reason why any house, certainly in the 'West', Europe and the US for instance, should not be built as European homes were 150 years ago, where there is a half sunk cellar, and the living area is reached by steps, or in the case of 'today' those steps do not have to be used to reach the area above the cellar. There does not have to be any cellar, but can be used to get to the raised area that prevents the dwelling area from flooding, and these can be replaced with or include a ramp?

Brick, concrete and steel can be left to dry out and be renovated after a severe flood. No so wood, which is more than likely to be washed away, or damaged by flood borne detritus, vehicles, trees and other floating homes.

Good luck. And, BTW I fully agree with your assertion that California and other 'famous' fruit regions should still carry on growing all of its lovely fruit and other tasty stuff!!!

BB

Just for your information, the fruits and nuts reference to California means

Fruits: People of a homosexual persuasion

Nuts: People with crazy ideas

It's an Americanism.

Bill

Hi Sciensis2,

I had thought that it may have meant that but I took what the actual words said for granted! But I like that kind of comedic stuff! Nice one.

Good luck and happy holiday!

your world is relative to me,we came from different countries with respective opinions to share with each other.in my country, many persons lived in a poor conditions but they have to endure it.why?because we had to adjust to the environment and only little struggles for the weakness was useless.

but now ,I can communicate with you and get further information from different self-value people.it's my luck .and i had to give my thanks to the website.

Hi fourloveggg,

I wish you a very happy time here on CR4! We are a kind lot and theres some pretty special people frequent here as well. They are good friends for the most part!

You wrote a very kind and caring and thoughtful post! Thank you. Not many words but you chose the right ones!

Take care and good luck

hi Sciesis,

what you said has enlightened me.the specific and accurate answer should depend on the backgrounds of different countries and districts.

I have a sincere attitude to learn and express.truly hope you can gain a lot and wiser.

Hi Sciensis2,

GA to you Sir for what you said and in particular asking for the location to be posted. This makes it so much easier when researching.

Good luck