Flooding: How do you deal with it?

Sticky_Fingers

Following on from the news of flooding in some parts of the country I was wondering what is the best way to prepare and deal with them. Since my home is located on relatively high ground I have been fortunate enough to never have to deal with this problem so I know very little on the subject and would like to know more.

So a few questions for you unlucky people who have been caught out by the rising water:

1: What preparations are needed to protect your home and minimise property damage? What needs to be done before the flood hits (turning off gas, water, electricity, etc etc?)

2: How do you properly set up sandbags to try and stop water entering your house and does it actually make a difference?

3: Related to the above what precautions did and didn't work? Any helpful hints and tips would be appreciated.

4: During a flood has there been anything that you sorely wished you had but had to do without (waders, sandbags, a liferaft :P)

5: If you are caught out in the open or in car during a flood what do you do?

6: How do you get around (if at all possible)? Safely tips here would be extremely helpful be it driving or walking on a flooded road.

7: How long does it take for the flood waters to completely recede and what is involved in the clean up of the damage?

I'd love to hear peoples experiences and any stories they have about this subject and I think it could be very useful to a lot of people.

Cheers guys

Quiet you

It wasn't this but I saw something very similar at the ploughing championships this year.

http://www.floodgateireland.com/ProtectiveBarriers.htm

It was basically the slot in system but the height could be raised by buying more panels if you felt they would be needed. It was easily de-mountable too so you could have it all fitted and ready to go in no time at all.

The display system they had set up worked extremly well. Only a trickle made it through at the bottom.

As far as i remember it was designed and built by a Galway firm that also make stoves.

eth0

If you cant actually stop the water from? getting in its just a matter of arranging the bottom storey so everything can be quickly removed and thrown upstairs

So no fitted kitchens
Carpets gone, use things like tiles instead
Pvc doors that can stand a bit of water

If the sockets are located a bit higher it would help, but flick the switch or remove fuse for flooded areas.

A few years ago rte reported on millions worth of damage at a certain street due to flooding. When i went to a barber on that street a few weeks later he was fairly unfazed about the whole thing and said don't beleive everything you hear on the news. But ya could always see he never had much that could get damaged by a flood

Quiet you

Alright. Forget what I said. Here's the site I was on about.

http://www.falconflood.com/index.html

Nice lads too.

Grizzly 45

[

QUOTE=Sticky_Fingers;75118036]
1: What preparations are needed to protect your home and minimise property damage? What needs to be done before the flood hits (turning off gas, water, electricity, etc etc?)

Get your paperwork IE important un replaceable documents into a large bag container or whatever and get it upstairs,amazing how much this can simplify lives straight off in the clean up.Ditto all computor equipment,TV Hi fi,family heirlooms furniture etc.You want to be doing this before anything floods not during the event.Moving your great aunts grandfather clock might be a PITA in dry conditions,try it in knee high water.:D
If you have outside or cellar drains they should be provided long before the flood with storm blocks.So if you live in a risk area of floods get them installed.Ditto any flood defence in your house /garden.

2: How do you properly set up sandbags to try and stop water entering your house and does it actually make a difference?

They do work,but most people seriously underestimate the time,amount of bags and sand required,not to mind filling them,and how to stack them..
Ex Army personel will know all about the above.;).
To stack them you need to break the line and stack butt in.IOW the second layer of bags is not resting ontop exactly of the first line,you build them like a wall of bricks.But to make it water proof,you need multiple layers of sandbags.Its time and labour consuming.If you have machinery a one ton "big bag" is a great solution to quick flood defence;)

3: Related to the above what precautions did and didn't work? Any helpful hints and tips would be appreciated.

4:

During a flood has there been anything that you sorely wished you had but had to do without (waders, sandbags, a liferaft :P)

Scuba gear and an amphibious vechicle!:D..

5: If you are caught out in the open or in car during a flood what do you do?

Unless it is a flash flood,wTF are you doing walking around in flood water in the first place?.
That water has all sorts of nasties in it..The rule is GET TO HIGHER GROUND! That means abandoning your vechicle as you do not want to be trapped in that if there is a sudden oncoming torrent of water.
Driving thru a flood ..Unless you know the road,its dips and bends and local streams...DONT DO IT.People put over faith and confidence in their vechicles with somtimes fatal results.
4x4 does not mean invincible tank!!As one woman and her three kids found out a few years ago in Cork[?] when she tried to drive their4X4 pick up over a raging torrent that was a placid little stream a few hours ago outside their house!:(:(.
Unless your 4x4 is equipped for the wet IE snorkel,waterproofed ignition,higher exhaust,etc.You are gonna be in a world of hurt in the garage bill dept,for blown engines wrecked electrics ruined interiors etc.

Cars are worse!!With low slung air intakes these days,they are great water scoops.As my friends found out in the UK once in a Megane in the middle of a flash flood that was only 4ins high!! So know where your air intakes are.

If you have to drive in water,do it SLOWLY.Seen too many mongs plow thru in great sprays and are putting themselves and others at risk by doing so!You do not want a bow wave in front of the car,and if it starts to feel like your steering is going sloppy.STOP and BACKUP.Your tyres are losing contact with the bottom of the road and your vechicle is becoming a boat!!

7: How long does it take for the flood waters to completely recede and what is involved in the clean up of the damage?

How long is a piece of string?? If you look at New Orleans post Katrina,they are STILL cleaning up and rebuilding!! Five years later.
It's quantative to the amount of water in the building and what it brought in with it.[IE river mud and other slop from the flood water] From cleaning up burst pipe damages in the last winter.
I'd say.

A GOOD wet vac and dehumidifers are going to be your main tools[If you have power].you need to get the mass of water out quickly,and the soaked water out relatively quickly.
If it is a major catastrophe ala Katrina.Id say a good pump action shotgun would be 1st on my list to defend whats left of the property against looters from both sides of the law,as happened in New Orleans.:(

If you have wooden floors this will be a good test to see if they were laid right and sealed properly.:D Had one wooden floor was under six ins of water for the week and it was fine.
You have to dry the building in a hurry by taking its time..If that makes sense.

Lastly make sure your insurance is well paid up for flood damage..You will need it.:eek:

Builderfromhell

Good advice there Grizzly.
The only things i can think to add is;
- a submersible pump to pump out the small amount of water leaking through sandbags. Lidl do them occasionally.
- Turn off electrical supply.

Pity you didn't make your post a week ago:rolleyes:

Grizzly 45

True enough....One other thing I'd learn to do in a flood situation is learn how to filter and purify your water..Sounds ironic,but drinking water might be contaminated with all the ****e carried in the floodwater that might have ended up in a resovior or subterranian well,or wherever.
So knowing how to make a good sized improvised filter would be another handy skill.

LaFlammeRouge

Sticky_Fingers wrote: »

2: How do you properly set up sandbags to try and stop water entering your house and does it actually make a difference?

I watched this video a couple of years ago and it explains the process very well. From the US Army Corps of Engineers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj7aUwIHYlw

The easiest option would to just get a floodgate though.

Red Harvest

I'm surprised no ones mentioned keeping an eye on the weather forecasts.

If you live in an area that might have floods then our own weather experts here are well worth keeping an eye on.

I live in a low lying area subject to occasional flooding I always try and keep an eye on the forecasts for at least 3 days a head.

Even www.met.ie sometimes gets it right