What is a flood?

A flood is a natural event that can

have far reaching effects on
people and the environment. A
flood is too much water in the
wrong place!

What causes / factors of

floods?

Causes of flood.
(Contd.)

The river has

overtopped its banks
and spilled onto the
flood plain.
Exceptionally heavy
rain

Monsoon wet
season

Essential for rice growing

But bad if there is too much
rain.

Dam Collapses

As cities get bigger

there is more
impermeable concrete
and tarmac. The rain
cant soak into the
ground.

Los Angeles U.S.A.

Humans to
Blame

Nepal
-deforestation

More people
More farmland needed
Trees cut down
Terraces made on hillsides
Landslides and more run-of
More risk of flooding

High Tides can cause the sea to flood the land in a

storm surge.

Hurricanes cause
storm surges too!
e.g. Florida U.S.A.

Tsunami
Flooding
Submarine
earthquakes
cause giant tidal
waves
e.g. S.E. Asia

Design Criteria for flood protective

buildings

Protecting our houses and property from serious floods is a big

challenge facing lots of researchers and companies all over the
world.

There are presently two main innovations to deal with it:

floating
housesbasement
and flood-shield houses.
a.
Cone-shape
b. Raft basement

Floating house floating house is a building that can float on the water due
to the inherent buoyant forces in a flood. From an environmental view, it
seems reasonable because it uses a natural energy force to solve the exact
same naturally-occurring
problem. These floating houses can generally be divided into two types

Methods to Elevate Buildings

Elevation on Fill
Elevation on flow-thru walls
Elevation by poles, piers, or columns

Elevation on Fill
This house looks like a normal house, but inside the
inhabitable areas begin on the first floor. The ground
floor is reserved for storing supplies that have the least
consequences if they suffer flood damage.

Fill

Elevation on Fill
Raising the level of the ground with fill

This alternative uses a man-made hill. The soil

concerns are the same as mentioned before,
but the slopes can be adjusted according to a
geotechnical engineers recommendation.

Building on a decrease hill

This alternative is a combination
of building in habitable areas
above the BFE and building on a
hill. The direction of the flood
should enter at the side of the
garage, where the consequences
of flood damage are minor.

Elevation on Fill
Usually limited to three or four feet in height
Fill placed in 6 layers and compacted (95%
proctor)
Extend fill 10 around structure
Side slopes 1 vertical to 1.5 horizontal
Erosion control

SECTION SHOWING CONSTRUCTION DETAILS OF FLOOD

PRONE BUILDINGS

House built on
elevated
foundation
walls

Flow through
crawl space

evation on Posts or Piles

levation

Posts or
columns are
wood, steel,
concrete, or
masonry
supports.
Piers are
vertical
structural
members
supported by
concrete
footings.

Posts

Piers

Storage Tanks

Above ground tanks may be anchored or elevated

up to 5-feet from grade.
Below ground tanks must be anchored, require
engineered installation.

Floodproofing / Minor Accessory Structures

FPE
Openings to allow
floodwaters to
flow in & out

AFTER

BEFORE

Utility
Box

FPE

FPE

AC

AC

Existing Pre-FIRM
Residential Structure

After Substantial Improvement

Elevate on fill or crawl required

CASE STUDY- BANGLADESH

Bangladesh Flooding July/August 2004

Causes of the Annual Monsoon Seasonal Flooding:September 2004:
Monsoon rains have hit Bangladesh .

Climatic
Terrestrial Processes
Human Activity

In summer the land is warmer than

the sea making LOW PRESSURE
so the summer Monsoon winds
bring moist air off the sea = really
wet

In winter the land is cold making HIGH

PRESSURE. The dry winds blow out
from the land to the sea.

Climatic Causes: Random variations in the intensity of monsoon rains

cause the flooding.
Bangladesh has a tropical
monsoon-type climate,
with a hot and rainy
summer and a dry winter.
The climate is one of the
wettest in the world. Most
places receive more than
1,525 mm of rain a year,
and areas near the hills
receive 5,080 mm ). Most
rains occur during the
monsoon (JuneSeptember).

Historical records to 1781, show that a major flood could be expected

every seven years and a catastrophic one every 33-50 years.
More detailed records since 1954 show the worst flooding since then
occurred in 1974, 1987, 1988 and 1998, when 70 percent of the country
was submerged in the most serious flood Bangladesh had ever seen.

Then 2004: The mighty Brahmaputra

river, swollen by rain and a
Himalayan burst dam, has flooded
huge swathes of north India and
Bangladesh, killing dozens and
forcing millions to seek refuge on
higher ground.

Four days of constant rain have

caused floods in parts of Bangladesh,
as in this village 100km north of
Dhaka.

Himalayan
Snow Melt
Every summer

Gangotri glacier, in the Indian

Himalayas, feeds the Ganges river.
The glacier is retreating an average
25 metres yearly.
Terrestrial Processes:
Relief Rainfall in the Himalayan
Mountains feeds the rivers

Most of Bangladesh sits astride the

deltas of a series of large rivers
flowing from imthe Halayas, and about a
third of the country floods every year
during the monsoon.

Roughly 80 percent of the

landmass is made up of
fertile alluvial lowland called
the Bangladesh Plain. This means
that it is prone to severe and heavy
flooding.
Flooding irrigates crops and adds
fresh silt to padi fields maintaining
the fertility.

Most of Bangladesh is below 10 metres above sea level

Human Activity : Global Warming leading to sea level rise. The flow of
water coming from the Himalayas - which is huge - depends on the
differential of height. "When the sea level is higher, the flow of that
water will be restricted.

So when you
hear now of
Bangladesh
being a floodprone country - it
will be a much
more flood-prone
country in
future."

The extraction of groundwater for irrigation had lowered the water table and
caused the land to subside by about 2.5m.

The groundwater contains naturally

high levels of arsenic!

The use of water upstream for irrigation and storing water in reservoirs has
reduced the amount of silt deposited so the level of the land has not been
built up.

People live on river sandbanks

called Chars.

Increased amounts of urbanisation has led to higher peak flow on the rivers with
much shorter lag times and a greater frequency of floods.

. So Deforestation in the Himalayas has increased

leading to increased run off.
No leaves to intercept , no roots to
bind soil in place.
It has also destabilised slopes
leading to landslides and soil
erosion.
The soil is carried by rivers and
deposited in channels on the low
ground.
This reduces channel capacity and
increases the likelihood of flooding.

REFERENCES:
www.Wikipedia.org
www.watersafety.co.uk
www.floodsite.net/juniorfloodsite/html/en/student/..
ALNAP and Provention. 2008. Learning from previous relief and
recovery
operations.
ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Center). 2006. Integrated
Flood Risk
Management in Asia. ADPC
Brandenburg, H. 2011. Cologne Flood Prevention. Presentation
in the BBL on
the River Flood Protection Experience from the City of Cologne.
Washington

BHUMIKA MEHTA
YESHA PATEL
DEVAL PATEL
ADITI PANCHANI
KINJAL PRAJAPATI
FRENY PACHCHIGAR