Preparedness for when

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

Evening all.

:hello:

My whole neighbourhood and beyond is described by the Environment Agency as at moderate risk of flooding but, if it did flood, it would be classified as severe. There is a river 50m away with many feet of freeboard between the normal level and the top of the banks. If the banks top over, it'll be across the carpark and into my flat.

My plan for that situation is evacuation. The sewers would back up through the plumbing and I'd have feces inside the flat. I'd go to SuperGran in the immediate term, as she's on a higher floor and I have the key to her flat. In the longer term, I would have to be out of my home for some time. Could be looking at a majority loss of my possessions, in that case.:(

You know what, GQ, I think the Environment Agency don't mention people in ground floor flats or bungalows because they know they don't have anything useful to say and that people in that situation are going to lose almost everything.

In your particular situation, could you manage to get any of your stuff up to SuperGran's?

I've been thinking about putting as much as possible up onto/into/on top of kitchen cabinets, knotting curtains to try to keep them out of the water, standing the furniture on bricks so that if its only a shallow flood after all, it doesn't affect your furniture (I saw a flooded out house on the news do that in that last bad set of flooding).

Found this, 56 page document: http://www.knowyourfloodrisk.co.uk/sites/default/files/FloodGuide_ForHomeowners.pdf
To be honest, the scene setting pic at the top, with dinghies instead of cars outside the houses, was sort of what I was thinking - in flash floods, you don't have any time to get out, so it might be about getting a life preserver, if you're in a bungalow

GreyQueen

Sure, I've thought about it.

Most of my furniture is lamianted blockboard. It will be ruined by water. Fortunately it is generic stuff, bought secondhand and would be replaceable with a change from £150 in a charity shop. Losing the very excellent mattress, fridge, cooker and washer would be bigger blows, as would the decent sofa. Such things aren't going to be movable easily/ at all and that's why I have home contents insurance - as a tenant, the buildings insurance is with the landlord.

I have only mats on the floor which could be moved in seconds. The curtains were £4 secondhand and I wouldn't fret too much about them; if the hems got wet I'd have 2 ft + of water in here, most the plug sockets would be underwater and soggy secondhand curtains would be well down my list of priorties.

If I'm home, and it's going pearshaped at a rate of knots, it's boots & saddles, grab the go-bag and go. If there's some warning, it's uplifting some things like electricals onto furniture to get them out of harm's way, on with the wellies which sit ready on a high shelf in my storage shed, and aim to have as much of my Stuff (clothing, food etc) 3 ft min up above the ground.

Many of the things I own are kept in containerised form anyway; boxes and bags, and can thus be moved relatively quickly.

I have all the documentation relating to my appliances etc in a single folder stored 6 ft above ground. I have duplicates of all the proofs off-site at my parents' and the negatives of all my photos are at their place, too. Along with a few spare clothes, toiletries and meds.

As a council tenant, my landlord has a duty to rehouse me until my home is habitable again. That could be days/ weeks or months, and there might be a lot of gypsying about in the interim. During which upset, life would still have to go on, job still have to be done etc.

Which is why I deeply and sincerely hope never to have to deal with a flood.

Oh, and a tip for getting curtains up and out of the way, which is useful for decorating as well as potential flooding - pull the ends of the closed curtains through a coat hanger and hang it off the curtain rail to loop them up and away in seconds. One hanger per side.

sb44

GreyQueen wrote: »

Evening all.

sb44, I have that book on the shelf but haven't yet got around to reading it.(

Even though it is a piece of fiction, it is supposed to be based on facts.

Best get reading soon, just to get some tips should we suffer and EMP attack.

Then you can give us some tips too.

Karmacat

Thanks for that, GQ. There's a couple of biggish pieces of furniture I'd hate to lose but you're right, of course, this is what insurance is for.

I like the hanger tip!

GreyQueen

sb44 wrote: »

Even though it is a piece of fiction, it is supposed to be based on facts.

Best get reading soon, just to get some tips should we suffer and EMP attack.

Then you can give us some tips too.

But if we have an EMP attack, we won't be online, will we? I have my portable radio (solar, wind-up and USB chargable) in a sealed tin in the cupboard as an EMP protection. And my files backed up to a thumb-drive in a small tin in my BOB.

I guess if the electrics are fried, the water pumps don't work and TSHTF in short order. Get your jellybaby stash in already, it could soon be too late.

PS Dear Mardatha, I know where you live to within about 100 miles and will be coming to visit in a crisis. Please muck out the coalshed ahead of time and make ready the porridge and sweeties.

GreyQueen

Karmacat wrote: »

Thanks for that, GQ. There's a couple of biggish pieces of furniture I'd hate to lose but you're right, of course, this is what insurance is for.

I like the hanger tip!

I can't claim credit for discovering it; came from a Don Aslett book on cleaning/ decluttering. It's easy, fast and efficient.

None of my furniture has sentimental value - heck, most of it doesn't even have monetary value, it's just functional. Which is just as well as there's no way I could wrangle most of it singlehandedly onto an upper floor. It's worth a lot less than the things I keep in or on it.

My photo albums live several feet above ground. The special photo albums are 6ft up on top of the wall unit with the files. The special family photos re in a handbag sized album sitting in isolation which can be grabbed in seconds.

I've mentally rehearsed what I would do if at home and at flood risk and the furniture is a dead loss in the event. I would try to move as much as possible of the rest of my stuff to safety, as long as it didn't involve risking my life and limb.

At times of spring tides and at certain phases of the moon, the river comes up. I've never seen it anywhere near topping over but it has a fearsome history, which is surprising as it's only a small very inland river and normally very placid.

People who have thought ahead about what they'd have to do are going to have a small advantage over those who haven't had that mental conversation.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

I have my portable radio (solar, wind-up and USB chargeable) in a sealed tin in the cupboard as an EMP protection.

You might want to ground that tin, just to be doubly sure.

As for flooding due to the weather, that is, thankfully, not a problem for me.

sb44

GreyQueen wrote: »

But if we have an EMP attack, we won't be online, will we? I have my portable radio (solar, wind-up and USB chargable) in a sealed tin in the cupboard as an EMP protection. And my files backed up to a thumb-drive in a small tin in my BOB.

I guess if the electrics are fried, the water pumps don't work and TSHTF in short order. Get your jellybaby stash in already, it could soon be too late.

PS Dear Mardatha, I know where you live to within about 100 miles and will be coming to visit in a crisis. Please muck out the coalshed ahead of time and make ready the porridge and sweeties.

Sorry, I meant pre EMP or CME tips .

armyknife

I live 30 feet from a good sized river and at winter's peak there's often a bit over 100 cubic metres a second passing in the three channels opposite, a fair bit of that wants to be were I live as the river, being a living breathing thing, wants to move over to this side of the valley for a change of view.

But because the old thing is a mature river by the time it flows this way, the flooding will never be catastrophic, last time I was flooded it was a gentle process over an hour or so and really it was as much groundwater as directly from the channel.

And you know what, you cope, it's not the end of the world by a long stretch, the only major issue was dealing with insurance and Stupid renovation companies. My advice stay put, live upstairs and get on with enjoying life.

greenbee

I moved here just over two years ago ... and not long after I moved in we had a very wet winter! The road outside lost the battle with the 'stream' that runs through my garden (actually, there are two streams, and they join at the corner of my garden). I'd had a very detailed flood survey and been told, given how far upstream I am (pretty much at the source of the river) that my nearest city would be underwater before I flooded. When the Royal Engineers were drafted in to flood farmland to prevent the city flooding I started to worry...

I did move a LOT of stuff upstairs, just in case. And rearranged and sandbagged the garage (the boiler lives in there, and it's about a foot lower down than the house). But I also realised that the house is built on the highest part of the plot, and that it is build on a floating raft above ground. The biggest danger is not that the house will flood, but that rising water levels will create movement of the raft and damage the structure of the house.

I now have a boat in my garage. It is due to go up into the roof. The builder who is sorting it out suggested that it might be more sensible to keep the boat on the floor, facing the door, ready to use...