Flood safety
Comments (5)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 12:49 PM ET
The arrival of spring means sunny skies and blooming flowers, but the warm weather comes with a price.
Fredericton has declared a state of emergency due to heavy flooding, joining Belleville and parts of Peterborough where residents continue to battle high water.
What can you do to be prepared for a flood? What essentials should your safety kit include?
Dr. Greg Brooks
What can you do to be prepared for a flood? What essentials should your safety kit include?
Natural Resources' Dr.Greg Brooks took your questions on flood safety.
Read his responses below.
This discussion is now Closed. View the questions.
Chat Questions (5)
Sheila
toronto
How do I prepare for a flood? What essentials do I need in my home?
Greg Brooks: Excellent information on getting prepared for floods can be found on the Public Safety Canada website (http://getprepared.ca/risks/floods_e.asp). Public Safety Canada recommends that people anticipate being self-sufficient for up to 72 hours in the case of a major disaster (flood or other type of disaster.) Information on their recommendations for essentials can be found at this website: http://getprepared.ca/kit/kit_e.asp.
Charlene Smith
Woodstock,Ontario
What is the greatest danger to people?
Greg Brooks: The dangers from flooding can differ substantially, depending on where people live relative to rivers, streams and floodplains, the setting of a given flood, and the time of year. Dangers can include hypothermia or exposure, being swept away by strong currents, erosion of land, the destruction of buildings by swiftly flowing water or debris carried by the water, and the washing out of roads and bridges. However, the greatest problems arise when people are ignorant or naive about their exposure to dangers from flooding or the power of floodwater.
What is the most common disease outbreaks?
Greg Brooks: Good question. From flooding directly, it is the group of health problems and diseases that come from drinking contaminated water rather than a single disease. However, people’s health can be affected severely after a flood because of allergic reactions to moulds that grow within furniture, rugs/carpets, books, walls of flood buildings, etc. These health problems can persist for years after the flood. All flooded buildings require careful and thorough cleaning at a minimum.
What essentials should people have with them?
Greg Brooks: The recommendations of Public Safety Canada for essentials can be found at this website: http://getprepared.ca/kit/kit_e.asp. They also recommend that people anticipate being self-sufficient for up to 72 hours in the case of a major disaster whether it is a flood or other type of disaster.
What should people NOT do?
Greg Brooks: Another good question — I have answered it from the perspective of the occurrence of a major flood rather than preventing damage from flooding. Important points are that people should: NOT ignore flood warnings, NOT disobey instructions from emergency personnel, NOT disobey evacuation orders, NOT interfere with emergency operations, NOT go sightseeing in affected areas during and after a flood disaster, NOT drive their vehicle across flooded roads, particularly where there is a current, and NOT forget to warn their children (and their adult children) of the dangers of playing near rivers and streams in flood.
Lucille
In the early 1970's there was major flood damage here in Windsor. What caused those floods? What is the likelihood that Windsor will see that kind of flooding again?
Greg Brooks: According to the Canadian Disaster Database (http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/res/em/cdd/index-en.asp), the southern coast of Lake Huron from Sarnia to Bayfield, Ontario, was ‘hit by major storms’ in the months of March and April, 1973. Although Windsor is not mentioned by name, I suspect that this is the flooding you are referring to.
No specific details are provided in the database, but given the time of year (spring), an educated guess is that this was a ‘rain-on-snow’ event. Rain-on-snow floods occur when rainfall during mild winter or spring weather falls on snow causing it to melt relatively quickly. The combined runoff from the rainfall and snowmelt results in rivers and streams overtopping their banks to higher levels than would have been the case from exclusively the rainfall or the snowmelt.
Regardless of the specific mechanism, it is inevitable that severe flooding will happen again in the Windsor area — no one knows when it will occur.
Lori White
Is there a way to protect my home from sewer backup?
Greg Brooks: Yes, by installing a zero reverse flow valve (also known as a back flow or backwater valve). Such a valve prevents a backup by closing automatically if water backs up from the main sewer. A properly installed backwater valve must be placed so that water backup will not come out through any of the outlets in your basement, such as sinks, toilets, showers and laundry tubs. I suggest consulting a plumber for more information.
ryan allan
is smart design, like strong pillared structures elevated above the flood waters cost effective or even plausible?
Greg Brooks: It is certainly plausible, but I can’t say if it is cost-effective. It is much more common to see structures constructed on an elevated earthen pad that is built-up to the level of a minimum ‘design’ height. For example, structures on pads are very common along the flood zone of the Red River, southern Manitoba. Here, the design height is the local level of the 1997 flood plus 2 ft (0.6 m) as factor of safety. The occupants of a structure on a pad, of course, would be completely stranded during a major flood and there is no guarantee that a flood exceeding the design height would never occur within the lifetime of the structure.