If you already have a house located in a flood-prone area, consider doing the suggestions below.
1) Elevate your home
By now, you might already have an idea of the actual depth of flooding in your area. You can prevent the impact of flooding by elevating your home. This may require a sizable renovation budget on your part. So, if the renovation will cost high that you can buy a new house with such amount, you might as well consider buying one.
Nonetheless, we Filipinos are so resourceful that we have another way of elevating. This works for homeowners with second floors or higher. Place valuable items at the second floor. These are the things that you cannot afford to lose to flooding and damage caused by being soaked on flood water.
2) Build barriers
This is much simpler than the first one. What we usually do is to install a concrete pavement on the main doors of our houses, so that the flood will not be able to penetrate the interior.
Nevertheless, if you want the barrier to cover more area in your house, install concrete on doors and put concretes, sandbags or even steel barricades around your yard, street or an entire community. For example, build concrete floodwalls to protect multiple homes. Remember, however, that the effectiveness of these floodwalls will depend on the quality of the materials used.
If you have already experienced flooding before, you must check the structural integrity of the walls and floors. Make sure that these are watertight, and that water cannot permeate the structure. Typically, flood water passes through the doors and windows. When water pervades the structure, it will cause cracks and breakages.
To ensure a watertight structure:
- Paint the walls using paints with waterproofing compounds
- Seal the walls using impermeable membranes or plastic sheeting then add a layer of masonry
- Install watertight shields
Now, if you are looking for a house and lot or land for your own house in the future, consider buying one in any of these flood-free areas in Metro Manila. While the housing developments in these areas may command a premium, the bottom line is you can always have a peace of mind that your house and valuables are protected from flood and flood-related damages.
Can’t emphasized enough that peace of mind is PRICELESS.
Taguig
Specifically in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) where you can see several mixed-used townships developed by Ayala Land Premier, for instance. Did you know that BGC has a detention basin built to hold millions of gallons of water? This means residents will need not worry about flooding come the worst of storms.
Makati
Specifically in Rockwell Center where the place is equipped with multiple drainage lines. This means that even if it doesn’t possess a detention basin similar to that of BGC’s, the place will remain flood-free. In addition, the authorities are currently undergoing a flood cycle study to guide the area planning particularly in the main business districts.
What we can learn from the onslaught of Ondoy is that we should be wary of the location when it comes to choosing a property. A house should protect you from the elements. The last thing that you want is having a house that you need to vacate in the middle of the chaos because it can no longer protect its dwellers.
Image credit: ActionSheds.com.au