Basic Flood Risk Equation Flood Risk = Flood Frequency X Consequences

Introduction Present Practice in Flood Management

Embankment of the low lying areas

Protection of single buildings

Dwelling mounds

Flood Resilience through Alleviation

new technology should be used in combination with existing structures in the hinterland

temporary flood abatement systems

Copyright: Hochwasserschutzzentrale Kln

Research on the performance on temporary flood abatement systems

Development of European approval standard

Flood Resilience through Avoidance Regulation in Spatial Planning

Terrestrial buildings
Inner dike line of flood compartment

Amphibious buildings
Main levee line

adaptation to flooding by dry- and wet-proofing

adaptation to flooding by floatable buildings and buildings on piles

Flood Resilience through Avoidance Adaptation Buildings by Retrofitting

Dry-Proofing of Buildings

Baca Architects: River Thames Amphibious House

UK's first amphibious house becomes a "free-floating pontoon

static

During dry times, the home will rest on fixed foundations that will keep it in place

floating

During flooding, the entire structure will rise up in its dock, and buoy along with the flood waters

Louisiana is Experiencing a Coastal Crisis

1,883 square miles lost since the 1930s

Currently losing over 16 square miles per year

Louisiana is Experiencing a Coastal Crisis

Predicted Land Change Over Next 50 Years

Potential to lose an additional 800 1,750 square miles of land over the next 50 years

Land Building Experiments

4900 Land in the Coastal Study Area (Square Miles) 4800 4700

Land Building Over Time For 50 Years (Moderate Conditions)

Maximize Land

4600
4500 4400 4300 4200 4100 Multiple Small Diversions

No Diversions

Future Without Action

2012

2021

2031

2041

2051

2061

The people who live on the island want to stay on the island. My plan is to get the community back together. We want a community where we can all live and intermarry and continue on our community and culture
-- Chief Albert Naquin

Is there a way to organize the local knowledge, before its gone?

Chances for an adequate reaction (in present setting)

Budget

Interdependence Solidarity

Europe

Netherlands

Zeeland

Chances for an adequate reaction (in present setting)

Budget

Interdependence Solidarity

United States

Louisiana

Lafourche Parish

If we stay on the same path that we are on, I believe that the coastal communities will not be around to benefit from restoration when it happens, period.
Given that statement, what can we do to change the path that were on, in terms of resources, in terms of focus, we the engaged citizens, to have my statement be wrong.
-- Shirley Laska

Alterations to Hydrology
Southwest Louisiana planning region 4

We have to build to live with water, we have to expect flooding. Flooding is what built our land

New land can be built by rerouting the lower river so that the sediment is deposited in the shallow water, where the river does what it always does, it builds a delta, it builds new land.

-- David Muth

2005 No neighborhood shelters, loss of resilience with only one shelter of last resort.

WIND + IMPACT

Hancock County Shelters

WIND + IMPACT

Hancock County Shelters

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

Hancock County Shelters

Innovative concepts for flood proof urban development

19 March 2012 DeltaSync BV & Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences Dr. ir. Rutger de Graaf

Local waste water treatment Water storage

Drinking water production

Marsh development and housing

www.buoyantfoundation.org

New amphibious homes in the Netherlands

The first development of amphibious housing in the Netherlands was in Maasbommel, along the Maas River, designed and built by Factor Architecten and Dura Vermeer.
Maasbommel, Netherlands

AMPHIBIOUS HOUSING IN MAASBOMMEL NL

NORMAL SITUATION OF THE WATERLEVEL

AMPHIBIOUS HOUSING IN MAASBOMMEL NL

HIGH WATERLEVEL DUE TO (WINTER 2011) RIVERFLOOD

In rural Louisiana --

Amphibious homes at Raccourci Old River, Pointe Coupee Parish, LA

For over 30 years, amphibious houses at Raccourci Old River have been rising and falling reliably with the level of flooding of the Mississippi River.

Dry in September . . . the same house

. . . Floating in February

Average cost of buoyancy system is around $5,000.

Dry in September . . . the same house

. . . Floating in February

Amphibious foundations are not new!

Dry in September . . . the same house

. . . Floating in February

Flood conditions at Raccourci Old River. The house in the foreground is amphibious.

This structure is not. It was in the background in the previous slide.

A closer look at the same two structures.

After the spring 2011 flood. Amphibious house on left is undamaged. Note waterline on elevated house on right.

Undamaged amphibious home on left. Elevated house on right is extensively damaged.

Extensive damage to elevated home on left. Undamaged amphibious home on right.

So why fight floodwater

when you can float on it?

Comparison of 3 Conditions

House on traditional masonry piers

House elevated to 8 feet

House with a Buoyant Foundation

NOW ADD WATER . . .

Existing Shotgun House Shotgun House Elevated to 6 ft Shotgun House on a Buoyant Foundation

NOW ADD WATER . . .

WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

SPRING - SUMMER 2007

Five LSU Mechanical Engineering students built a platform with a buoyant foundation to test the design for flotation and stability: Scott Schroth Dustin Husser Dustin Ewing Matt Guidry Ben Morvant

Students from the LSU Hurricane Center added a house frame and built the flood tank to run the tests: Stuart Broussard Ezra Boyd

Setting the vertical guidance posts

(Note guidance post design has since changed to telescoping posts)

House frame almost complete

A layer of sand holds down the liner

Now add water . . .

LIFT-OFF!

Water barrels and sandbags are added to simulate weight of house and its contents

Moving the sandbags to tilt the house

Testing complete!

Buoyant Foundations Save Shotgun Houses

LIFT House, Dhaka, Bangladesh

This prototype of a low-cost, sustainable amphibious house for urban slum-dwellers broke ground in November 2009 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Designed by Prithula Prosun, a Master of Architecture student studying at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, each unit consists of two to eight floatable bamboo dwellings clustered around a shared courtyard.

The stationary brick base structure contains plumbing, utilities and rainwater storage cisterns. Each two-room amphibious bamboo dwelling unit is living and sleeping quarters for a single family.

Day 10 Brick foundation walls are started for water cisterns and composting latrine storage

Day 33 Ferrocement frame prepared for one of the buoyant foundations

Buoyancy blocks made of recapped empty plastic bottles

Day 40 Empty used water bottles are prepared for second buoyant foundation

Day 55 Bamboo frames are erected for both dwellings

Day 66 "You will notice here ... the house on the right is higher than the left ... Its floating!" (on recapped plastic bottle buoyancy blocks)

January 2010 Construction of LIFT House dwellings completed

CO2 Bambu Confidential

WE HAVE

WE CAN

WE WILL

OR EVEN

Housing Shops

Parking
Water
Only the 2 lowest levels will float, not the whole structure

Housing Shops

Parking
Water
Parking garage provides buoyancy when flooding occurs

New Community Core Facility

Can house critical facilities in coastal communities Hurricane shelter for local community Police and emergency services Hospital / health clinic Municipal offices Library and elementary school Community services Shops and offices on ground floor After a hurricane, if homes do not survive, core facility provides support for rebuilding community