k wrote:
It was interesting to note that during the
disaster that was Katrina the French Quarter
and Garden District, old historical districts of
New Orleans had very little problems. The
original inhabitants were much smarter about
where to build than the ones who came after
them.

One other factor to take into account is that there isn't that much
building land in the UK and this is why they build on the flood plains.


Been watching the flooding in England on
the news. Amazing pictures. Wondering if any
to those people belong to Gill. The new Prime
Minister really started his term with some
hefty challenges.

k :-)


Well the floods haven't reached Berkshire yet - they are now talking
tomorrow morning. Me and the kids have been doing a bit of flood
spotting today - mainly in Henley. The river is certainly high and
flowing fast but has only breached it's banks in the usual places - it
has to be said it amused the kids no end to see park benches and rubbish
bins in the middle of the river. Lots of sandbags around the place in
both Henley and here. The good news is that they no longer think it will
be as bad as anticipated....

Gill

Chris Barnes wrote:

Derek Broughton wrote:
The US Corps of Engineers got wise to this probably 20 years ago when
there
was wide-spread flooding on the Mississippi. In the end, it's a whole
lot simpler (and safer for everybody) _not_ to try to prevent flooding,
and to just not let anybody build on the flood plain.

You mean like "New Orleans"?

(actually, closer to my home, Houston is also a flood plain).


Sorry - it's a pet peeve of mine. I visited NO one time several years
ago. I thought then how dumb it was to build below the water line with
the M.River on one side, and Lake Ponchartrain on the other.

Exactly like that - the Corps of Engineers has been carefully confining the
Mississippi and it's tributaries within concrete walls for decades. It
just means that all that water has nowhere to go but over the tops of the
levees - and it's way too late to stop people building on the flood plains.

Of course, on much of the Great Plains, building on a flood plain isn't
really an option. In the last big flood of the Red River in Manitoba, the
flood water was spreading 20 miles! But in that case the best option is
to build on stilts, or mounds, and let the water surround you every few
years.
--
derek
- Unless otherwise noted, I speak for myself, not rec.ponds.moderated
moderators.

I think, to a certain degree, before condemning people from building on
flood plains we also need to look at the historical perspective as to
why these communities built up in the first place....

Now, Reading, Berkshire grew because it was where the Thames and Kennet
rivers met.....then in the 17th/18th century this was further developed
by the Kennet Canal...then came the railways and Reading becoming a
major station/point on the Great Western line....then came the road
structure making Reading really well connected to London and the West
Country....and of course we cannot forget the airports and Heathrow is a
mere 25 min drive from Reading......

Then we look at the suburbs....built as small villages not connected to
the main town at all.....Caversham, where I live, was a small thriving
village that had boat building and eel farming as the core of its
economy (no longer I must add).....during the civil war Caversham and
Reading where at great odds and there where great battles regarding the
bridge over the Thames.....IIRC Caversham was Royalist and Reading was
already overrun by the Roundheads with the Abbey being destroyed by
Cromwell and his mates.....when eventually overrun the "Golden Chapel"
in Caversham was completely destroyed and it is all gone
forever.....some homes in Caversham still have "priest holes" where the
would hid the Catholic priests from persacution....

Anyway, despite the history lesson.....Reading as all big towns/cities
spread over the centuries and took over the little villages in its need
to grow....so homes on the flood plain that were sustainable because of
their sparseness became highly developed areas....and those by the river
side became playgrounds for the very rich (but these are on stilts with
mooring for their playtoy boats). The flood plain in this little, once a
village but now a sprawling conurbation/suburb was mainly social
housing....hey, let's stick the poor where they can get flooded (ironic
grin)......but this is not recent....the "workers" homes were all built
down in that part of Caversham....not the farm worker cottages we have
where I am higher out of the "village" but the Victorian Terraces so
this is not a recent thing.....

Hmmmm....but still the infrastructure has coped pretty well - afterall
most of these houses had gardens and quite often 100 foot gardens all
with nice soil to soak up the water.....AND THEN.....you get the push
for more housing and executive, "pretty", "designer" housing for those
people now working in a boom town.....and of course the only land
available is on the flood plain.....but these people don't want nice
little houses with gardens (afterall with the pressure of working life
they just want to go back to their low maintenance designer homes and
everything look pretty) - so the developers give them what the want -
designer flats with hard landscapes that prevent the water from being
able to drain into the water table.....and then of course there is the
fashionable trend to hard landscape drives and gardens for low
maintenance.....water doesn't go into the soil and water table it just
flows into the drains

So here we have it......housing designed to work against nature, housing
built on the flood plains because of demand for land and
space......Oh....and where in the world is the water going to go??????

I'm very happy to say that I have heard of at least one planning
application in Caversham that has been blocked because of the impact on
the flood plain and the fact that the plans do not allow anyway for
surface water to drain away......similar has happened to the West of
Reading where the flood plain is one of the town's major defenses....

Back on topic....the water table is now incredibly high.....the pond
excavation had been drying out in a morning with good sun.....it has
been dry all day today and the bottom of the deepest part is still very
boggy.......Don't think we can handle too much more rain this
year......I wonder what might happen in the true "rainy" season when we
normally get the floods.....

Gill (now stepping off soap box)