How to prepare your home against heavy floods?
In spain there are 700.000 inhabitants living in zones at risk of being flooded. Today we will describe how to prepare your property for extreme floods. We will do this by answering questions about insurance and giving recommendations both to prevent its impact and avoid a flood devastation .
Insurance questions:
1. How can you diminuished flood economic consequences?
Make sure you have an insurance updated policy which must cover damage caused by excessive rainfall, leaks from terraces, roofs or facades.
2. What is the amount of rain from which Spanish insurers cover damage?
40L per m2. and per hour.
3. What legislation regulates the insurance hiring in Spain?
The Law 50/1980.
4. Is there a public Agency protecting you against extreme phenomena?
Yes, the Consortium of Insurance Compensation and includes heavy rainfall.
5. What precipitation records do insurance companies use?
The Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET).
How to evaluate, prevent and act on the risk of flooding in your home:
1. Know well what type of land your house is located on: a porous riverbed with very dangerous soil is not the same as one that is more solid and away from rivers. It should be noted that although we can never control nature not all places have the same dangerousness. On the other hand, the geographical location of the house is also important. In this aspect it is very important to formulate oneself and to formulate to the technicians questions like the following ones:
1.1 Is your house on the coast or next to a river? Yes?
1.1.2 Is it far from the sea or close to it?
1.1.3 Is our home inland? Yes?
1.1.4 Near mountain slopes in an arid terrain -with no wooded mass and no canalization-?
An affirmative answer to factors 1.1.2 and 1.1.4 triggers the property flooding risk. If we have the means, we recommend you build some kind of wall - with townhall permission - surrounding our home to isolate us from the uncontrolled water course in case of massive storm will be effective. .
What type of housing do you live in?
In an isolated house in an urbanization or in a block of flats in the city: you must have very well identified the evacuation ways: in case of risk call the emergency telephone of your city or the fire brigade.
Keep in mind which floor you live on: basements and attics are more likely to end up flooded.
How do you avoid the most serious consequences of a flood in your home?
1. Inspect from the outside first and from the inside after possible vulnerabilities of the house look at key aspects such as:
Clean the dry leaves accumulated in the gardens or terraces drains so that they absorb as much water as possible.
Fill cracks
Reinforce/shore doors and windows
Cover/repair any slots or flakes on the sides of doors -cover the space between lintel and door- and windows.
Close windows, reinforce glass and lower blinds
Repair the terrace joints as we explained in August.
Pay special attention to storage rooms, basements and garages.
Detect and stop leaks anywhere.
Ideally, these eight points should be repaired before the flood is announced. To sum up we pick an scheme to be retained: where the water enters + what can damage = current diagnosis--> search proper solutions.
2. Make an object list and pets on your property: it may help you to think about what needs to be protected from water: paper documents, for example, deteriorate quickly in contact with water).
3. Check the electrical installation: point out that at the residential level it must pass your property an inspection every 5 years, whereas if we are talking about a commercial premises the inspection period is shorter: from 3 to 5 years. The electrical circuit is a possible vulnerability when it rains.
4. Prevents water from touch cables and other electrical appliances: GFCI outlets, on sensing a drop in voltage, automatically disconnect from the flow and prevent electrocution. If the storm is extremely strong and electrical, disconnect the electrical panel so that all appliances without exception are without power. Insulate water cables with waterproof splices and covers.
5. Have the structural elements checked, such as: foundations, pillars, facades, claddings, etc.
6. Elevate household appliances with ledges and shelves: in South American pages preparing for hurricanes we have read this recommendation not always feasible in Spain. It is not superfluous to think of similar building solutions and to use high drawers for what we must protect. In Spain the rain phenomena may be very violent (like the 300 litres/m2 in Alicante) but they will not rain on a concentric point for a long time as hurricanes do.
Finally, to help you even more, we classify the specific actions that can be carried out in the face of a flood from minor to major severity:
1. Avoid: prevent water from surrounding the building.
2 Resist: preserve the interior of the building.
3 Tolerate: let the water enter the building but adequately protecting the objects or living beings in it.
4 Withdrawal: sometimes the flood can be so enormous that none of the above measures are effective. It is here that we have to keep in mind what the exits of the building are.
In this aricle we have prepared you to face a devastating flood.