Brisbane not looking too good .

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by August

Personally if I were living in a flood plain like that I'd consider rebuilding in such a way that minimizes my future risk. Its got nothing to do with toughness or nationality either. New Orleans and many other areas in the US could do the same.

Certain parts of Idaho, a good portion of Iowa, probably northern Missouri. The ragers that hit Idaho from time to time... people build right on the sandbars in some places there - but the flooding is mostly restricted to the fast rivers in the mountains. Iowa gets hit pretty much every year, with Missouri being south of us and sharing some rivers. All this flat land and lack of good runoff makes for a potential bathtub. Heavy rains throughout the spring add to the snowmelt, and by summer we start getting flash flood watches along with the usual severe t-storm warnings. Not unusual to see corn fields sticking up out of lakes that formed overnight. Year before I think it was Cedar Rapids was mostly underwater. Last year it hit a good portion of Ames and pretty much submerged... I think it was Colfax?? Started with a "C", anyway. Small portions of Des Moines took some damage, too.

Problem is, from what I've been able to determine, it's a crap shoot. One year the water hits somewhere upstate, next year it hits in the east, year after that it might not even affect our state. Keeps one guessing at times. Pretty much depends on where the rains fall the heaviest and how well the natural and manmade runoff can handle the deluge.

I'd have to agree with you on elevated constructions. But toughness and human pride... well, you know. Probably ain't gonna happen.


EDIT: Come to think of it, the floods in Idaho aren't devastating on a grand scale. Just seems to be a habit of building too close to areas that naturally flood out from time to time, like the sandbars I mentioned. When the floods do come then you have people crying over the cabins they just lost to the river. Buh...

Places like South America and the BFE regions of China could do with better emergency services, but I guess that's not something we can help out with on a large scale.

Posting as is. Flame away. :P