Superstorm Sandy inundated the hallowed caverns of lower Manhattan and caused enough personal and financial disruption elsewhere in the city and region to spawn a boom in flood-resiliency efforts. As a consequence, the engineering community has been tasked with delivering cost-effective resiliency solutions for assets that range from single-family homes to entire cities. The foundation of flood damage prevention efforts lies at the local level, and a number of relatively low-cost solutions exist to reduce flood damages and associated claims. Here are eight practical ways to reduce the impact of the next major flood event.
|1. Seal the envelope
The vast majority of assets within the floodplain are existing structures. Raising entire structures, while feasible and cost-effective for smaller facilities, is not usually an option. The dry flood-proofing industry, which has grown considerably in the past few years, provides cost-effective solutions for sealing a structure's envelope against floodwaters. Products now exist to make all building openings watertight, including flood-resistant windows, doors and louvers. Likewise, timber and masonry exteriors can be sealed to prevent the entry of floodwaters. Of course, even a well-sealed structure is at risk: As water rises and pools outside of a building, it introduces the possibility of overloading the walls. A structural engineering industry has grown to meet this potential problem, almost always presenting cost-effective solutions.
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