{"id":32661,"key":"Flooding","title":"Flooding","latest":{"id":1249453,"timestamp":"2026-05-31T12:01:11Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"[[File:Flood in Tanah Laut Regency.jpg|thumb|Flood in Tanah Laut Regency]]\n\n'''Flooding''' can range from inconvenient to deadly, and often results from human activities. Clearing of vegetation (especially forest), paving ground so that it cannot absorb water, and discarding litter (especially [[plastic bags]]) into waterways, all exacerbate flooding.\n\n== Reducing flooding ==\n\nFlood levels can be reduced locally in several ways:\n\n* [[Swales]], [[rain gardens]], [[permeable pavements]] and other forms of [[groundwater recharge]], especially when implemented at higher levels, reducing the amount of water reaching the flood zones. Keyline farming can help in farming areas.\n* Improving the water storage capacity of the [[soil]], through building a healthy soil with high [[humus]] content.\n\n== Large scale flooding ==\n\nNote that when the flooding is a result of larger scale hydrology, these may have little impact. They are still good things to do for their own sakes, but will have a relatively small impact when there massive quantities of water from outside the area.\n\nIn some cases, such as in [[Jakarta]], there is a combination of poorly designed development which increases stormwater runoff, litter which clogs drains, and a lack of adequate drainage (e.g. through lack of finances, or Corruption|diversion of finances for other purposes. Suitable local measures such as absorption wells and banning single use non-[[Compostable plastic|compostable]] [[plastic bags]], applied over a large enough area, could conceivably remove the need for the large scale, [[top-down]] stormwater solutions.\n\n== Mitigating damage ==\n\n* Setting housing back from flood zones.\n* Raising all sensitive/valuable things in the home, through shelves set high, or keeping valuable items on higher levels. Electrical outlets are also set high. This is often effective but:\n** only protects against moderate floods,\n** may be inadequate in flash floods if some items need to be moved from the main living space to a higher level\n* Setting houses on stilts, such as the traditional Queenslander.\n* Keeping an inflatable boat available in the highest part of the house, so it is possible to escape from an upper window as a last resort.\n\n== Notes and references ==\n\n<references />\n\n== See also ==\n\n* [[:Category:Flood control]]\n* [[Rain gardens]]\n* [[Reducing runoff]]\n\n== External links ==\n\n* [[Wikipedia:Flood]]\n* [https://crystalroof.co.uk/report/country/uk/environment?tab=flood-risk UK Flood Risk map]\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n| keywords = Natural disaster gallery\n| description = Reduce flood risks at home and in your community. Appropedia explains simple, sustainable steps to protect your space.\n}}\n\n[[Category:Flooding]]\n[[Category:Hydrology]]\n[[Category:Natural disasters]]"}