Will More Extreme Weather Conditions Influence Where You Choose to Live?

Davesnave

Slinky wrote: »

One afternoon the heavens opened and a large amount of water was dumped. At this point I discovered we are the lowest point of the street, and it's not at all obvious from looking.

The same where we used to live. We were there more than two decades, yet it was only after about 18 years that we realised our vulnerability when a flash storm blocked drains and caused water to overtop the pavement.

I'd never seen a 'river' cascade down the drive before. I was glad the person who'd laid it created a decent fall away from the house. I'd given the water a clear escape route, though purely by accident, so we were safe.

The experience made me think and evaluate properties more carefully; that, and subsequently renting a house that was gently sliding down the hill!

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I have been viewing properties over last couple of years or so that are some way up the side of a hill. Once I would have assumed their height up that hill so to say meant "safe".

Subsidence in the form of landslips is another phenomenon people haven't traditionally thought much about, mainly because there are relatively few dramatic ones. But the 'sliding' house I alluded to in my last post is only 45 years old and far from unique on the estate where it's situated.

These were expensive properties, built by reputable builders on what was thought to be suitable land, but old springs opened-up, lubricated the clay and the results proved very expensive.

Running_Horse

My last house was on top of a hill. My current one is over a mile from a river and enough uphill never to flood...probably. But that is more luck than specific choice. I would never buy in a flood plain. Most people will never be affected in any real way, even by extreme weather events.

marksoton

Slinky wrote: »

Yes, flood risk is certainly something I will be considering if at some point we move in the future. Where I currently live, we were close to flash flooding about 16-17 years ago. One afternoon the heavens opened and a large amount of water was dumped. At this point I discovered we are the lowest point of the street, and it's not at all obvious from looking. We were scooping water out of the garage, another hour I think it would have been coming in the front door.

It rarely is by eye. With a bit of simple maths and OS datum's you can asses this.

But that isn't the be all and end all. The last FA job i did employed an inverse syphon method under a railway track. In simple terms using the weight of water to push it away,not pipe gravity.

We solved the flooding in a month. But were then told to install an additional pumping station that took 8 months and included M&E and a 7 metre shaft. Madness.

moneyistooshorttomention

That has reminded me of another reason I'm not convinced that many people have cottoned-on yet to flooding risks. As stated - I bought that last house of mine about 30 years ago and was bearing in mind future flooding incidents like we are witnessing these days. Accordingly - it was up top of a hill and any water around would have headed straight past it at a rate of knots quite some metres down towards sea level. All round - I thought/still think "That house is as safe as houses quite obviously in that respect". Half Britain would be underwater before that house ever got flooded - for whatever reason.

As there had been quite a few flooding incidents around the country by the time I came to sell it a couple of years back - I did wonder whether it would sell faster than I had calculated on an "all else being equal" basis precisely because its safer from flooding than the vast majority of starter houses there.

I don't think the thought crossed a single viewers' mind from what I could see. Now that did surprise me - as I did expect some level of awareness about flooding by that time and them accordingly being more interested in my house because of its obvious safety from that ever happening there.

So - the house sold in exactly the timespan I expected and I knew the exact reason my buyer wanted it - and it was certainly nothing to do with being so safe from flooding.

Slinky

Davesnave wrote: »

The same where we used to live. We were there more than two decades, yet it was only after about 18 years that we realised our vulnerability when a flash storm blocked drains and caused water to overtop the pavement.

I'd never seen a 'river' cascade down the drive before. I was glad the person who'd laid it created a decent fall away from the house. I'd given the water a clear escape route, though purely by accident, so we were safe.

This was exactly what happened with us, the water crept up the pavement, overtopped between us and our neighbour and started pouring down our driveway. A lot of it went down the passage between the two houses and started filling up the back garden, whilst the drains running under our back garden also started to overflow where lazy builders had connected new guttering on other people's extensions to foul sewers rather than the proper soakaways. Not pleasant. Fortunately the back garden slopes away from the house, but the front garden slopes towards it.

Davesnave

Running_Horse wrote: »

Most people will never be affected in any real way, even by extreme weather events.

I agree, but I still think there will be increasing public awareness of location to an extent not seen before. Much of this will be insurance-led, of course.

Elsewhere

I grew up in Ashburton on the edge of Dartmoor. If it rained hard on the moor, even if we didn't have rain the middle of the town flooded due to the little river that ran down from the moor (the door frames in the town centre had slots for flood boards; they knew it was inevitable). We had an old postcard from 1948 showing water up to the first floor windows.

Our house was part-way up a hill, and that's what I'd always choose!

As a teenager I lived in Bournemouth; quite a few buildings slid off the cliff - it was still possible to see the foundations of a house that some nutter had built right on the beach to the west of the town centre!

It's stupid to live right next to a river, on the edge of a cliff, right on top of a hill etc. And as for building on water meadows... madness. Water meadows are the soakaway for when the river overflows - planners (or maybe councillors) have no logic or common sense. It costs all of us in more expensive insurance premiums and extra taxation for flood prevention. I believe they're hoping to build near the Salisbury water meadows soon - goodbye Salisbury Cathedral!

My present abode is 150 feet above sea level, and there's a canoe in the shed in case global warming turns Purbeck into a real island.

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - any thought of confidence in town planners to make ANY right decisions ever sort of evaporated after reading an article in yesterdays (online) newspapers.

That article was about how student housing in York and a school someplace else in the country were about to be built by EXTREMELY busy roads. Roads that have too heavy car exhaust pollution to live by. The one where the school is going to be built by is one that had a school moved from that location a few years ago because of the level of pollution. Those planners, in their "wisdom" have decided it will be perfectly possible to do so after all if they make a rule that the developers aren't allowed to have opening windows in the properties and the school playground has to be at the back of the school. I instantly interpreted that article as the planners have decided to try and protect their backs against the risk of being sued for people making claims for damaged health and death due to traffic fumes. Mind you - they have rather overlooked the risk that those properties might have fires and so they will be at risk of being sued by relatives/friends of people who tried to escape through the windows and couldn't (ie because of them being non-openers).

Now did they make those decisions before or after recent research proved that a noticeable number of people are dying/having their health damaged each year in Britain because of road traffic pollution?:cool:

But - what do we expect except building in unsuitable areas - in view of the fact that we are trying to house too many people in this overpopulated country?

mgarl10024

A few years back I visited Boscastle. Back in 2004 they experienced flooding due to extreme weather and the fact that they are in a valley.

Standing in the new visitor centre after the old one had been swept away, and seeing a mark above the door which read "2004 water level" was a sobering experience.