Information on Floods

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Did you know that floods are one of the most common natural disasters in the world? They can happen anytime, anywhere and anyplace. Most people think near the coast or perhaps by a river are the most common. Not so. Any place with excessive rain, melting snow and poor drainage can cause a inundation.

Several years ago, there was a barrage of water 30 miles or so from us. A placid creek, that normally had very little water in it, overflowed and caused major problems with washing out streets and general flooding for several days.

After some heavy rains, it peaked at over 20 feet. Some farm land was overrun and the roads washed out, but not much else was damaged. The media showed some houses with some damage. It seems they always find the worst and make it look typical or representative of all the damage.

Near Atlanta last year, we had some friends that lived in a new development. The access road was washed out making getting to and from the homes difficult, but the homes were safe. The property owners parked across the street and took a boat home. So, you never know exactly where and when a problem may occur.

One of the first things I do before buying a house is to look at the FEMA maps. For your convenience here is the link http://gis1.msc.fema.gov/Website/newstore/Viewer.htm. I have two reasons for looking at them:

• First, I do not want to have the damage and the associated problems.
• Second, there is the monthly cost for flood insurance. I hate to waste money when there are so many other houses in areas not prone to the overrun of water to choose from. Not to mention the heartache of losing irreplaceable family memorabilia.

Say you have wind storm coverage and do not have flood coverage. Your roof blows off and it rains in your house. As long as the water does not reach 6 inches in depth, you are covered. IF the water does not run out, your insurance company may or may not cover.

The easiest way to reduce barrage problems is to not purchase a home in a known flood area. Some areas water overflows every year and some have not experienced an overflow in a 100 years. If you must have THAT house, then do what you can do to reduce flooding in the residence.

Here is an example. There was a home several miles from us that the creek rose every year and overflowed. The homeowner had the house raised about 15 feet so that the water could not get into the living area. The basement still gets water, but no damage to anything else.

Personally, I would have moved to higher ground. There are several things you can do to help direct running water away from the structure. Talk to a civil engineer and get some recommendations.



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Information on Floods to Home Page