Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 21:37:53 EDT
From: Jeff Boyd <BOYDJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Building in a flood plain...


This may be useless, but in my ignorance of your geography and
climatology I'll send it anyway.  My mother's home is in a flood plain,
one of the worst in southern Ontario (we have 20 years experience there).

The land around is flat (and I do mean flat), yet we have had rapid
floods (3 feet in 2 hours once, I *just* had time to dam our foundation)
during freak thaws.  One year the ice on the river literally exploded,
with 50-foot chunks sailing into the air and crashing down;  the far bank
has smaller trees (1'-2' trunks), many of which were cut down by the ice.
We have a row of mature trees with trunks ranging from 2' to 8' on our
bank, so we don't have to worry about ice floes striking the house.  Some
owners downstream aren't so fortunate.  I suppose the advice here is to
find out if you need to worry about ice, and if so, what can you do about
it.

I kept water out of the basement with a dam of mud/plastic/mud/sandbags
which surrounded the entire foundation.  The plastic sheeting is cheap.
10' wide is good -- 4' out on the ground, 6' up the walls.  Pack mud
under the plastic and over, at least an inch either side, then pile up
the sandbags.  Use military size, not feed bags;  they're 1/3 the mass
when wet (70lb vs 200lb ... don't risk injury), and leave smaller gaps
when stacked.  The idea is to slow the water's entry to a trickle which
can be easily pumped out of your sump.  If you stop it completely, you're
blessed :-).

A gas pump is useful when you have to move a lot of water quickly, but
the exhaust can kill everyone in your house if you're careless.  Never
use it as your main pump, use a battery of electric pumps.  Submersibles
are useful, but more expensive.  If the power goes off you have little
choice of course.  Crank it up, open the windows, and take children out
of the house if ventilation is poor.

Buy large rubber work gloves, and wear cotton gardening gloves inside
(or something similar).  Don't let your hands get cold, you'll become
useless.  Chestwaders (or hip waders, ask your neighbours), of course.
You should expect to get soaked with icy water, so have replacement
clothing available and some way of warming up quickly.

If your home can be completely surrounded by water, you'll need a boat of
some sort.  Sand can't be dropped by your house, so your boat must be
sturdy enough to carry sandbags.  We have a 400' drive, typically under
3' of water in spring, so sandbag transport had to be efficient.  If you
*know* the flood is coming, get started early while the sand can be
dropped beside your house.

Keep up on sleep.  If you get too tired, you're begging to drown.  Set
up a wake-up schedule throughout the nights to check water levels and
pumps.  I grew to loathe beeping travel alarms after one bad spring when
I had to wake up every hour of every night for a week :-).  Don't get
caught by surprise if you can help it -- keep up on weather forecasts
and flood forecasts.  Find out who to ask at your power company for
down-time estimates when the power goes out.

The single most important concern in your home is your wiring.  If you
don't think you can protect it, GET OUT.  Shut the power off and leave,
have the power company come to cut it at the pole.

Evaluate your foundation.  Do you have any windows or doors that will be
difficult or impossible to dam?  Will the weight of the dam and water
pressure be too much at any locations?  Consider changes.  We had a
sunken basement entrance removed and walled over, and the entire outer
basement wall coated heavily with tar, with good results.  Protect
windows with 2x4's if necessary, a few sandbags are too much for a flimsy
frame.

I could babble on at length, but I think I'll quit and suggest that you
talk to people in the area.  Our neighbours had a great deal of
experience to share, and there was a 'team' defence each spring.  If
the alarm went up at someone's place, we all appeared and did what needed
to be done.  Many of us risked our lives more than once saving homes.  A
few times, homes had to be abandoned.  Our family has been lucky so far.


jeff