Basement Tanks and Flood Risk/Mitigation.

[Hugh Mann]

Preface: This may get… rambly.

So yeah. My basement suffered some major flooding two weeks ago. First time since the house was built in 1960, which is why I felt comfortable having all my stuff down there.

Which sucks, because I had all four of my aquariums down there. Three were below the high water mark of about 5’ (saved my fishies fortunately), but the top of my 230 was well above that. Being empty however, it did float off the stand, which was fun moving it off the floor when the water went away.

Anyways, I am wondering where I should go from here in regards to my aquariums. My three smaller ones (20L 20H and 55) will all be going upstairs for sure. However, the big one, due to its massive size, there isn’t really anywhere upstairs I can put it where it won’t be in the way of day to day life. I am also concerned with the sheer weight of it sitting in one spot on the joists for a couple decades. But what with climate change and all, there is a real possibility I could flood again, and it would be nearly impossible to get all the fish out of such a big tank in a timely fashion in an emergency. But the top of the tank was 1-1.5’ above the water, so assuming the new stand is of similar height it would take some seriously massive flooding (to the point I would likely have much bigger worries considering this event caused the evacuation of 7,000 people destroyed dozens, damaged hundreds of homes, and obliterated swaths of roads and several bridges, let alone the chaos in the rest of the province) to get over the top, which makes me feel like it is okay to keep in the basement, where I spent most of my time anyways.

Yeah, I am not really sure how to proceed from here. Kind of annoying, really.

 

[blaxsun]

I’m guessing this was the recent flooding in BC? 70 years… It’s either a once in a century event or possibly something that may become more frequent in the future. Really hard to say. I know some of the flood management issues had to do with the BC government delegating control to umpteen different entities and that they’re now trying to reverse this, but it’s anyone’s guess if this will arrive before the next disaster.

Short of selling your house and relocating to higher ground, I’m not sure if you have many options (we Canadians pretty much need our basements since our house, shed and garage are already full!)

 

[Hugh Mann]

I’m guessing this was the recent flooding in BC? 70 years… It’s either a once in a century event or possibly something that may become more frequent in the future. Really hard to say. I know some of the flood management issues had to do with the BC government delegating control to umpteen different entities and that they’re now trying to reverse this, but it’s anyone’s guess if this will arrive before the next disaster.

Short of selling your house and relocating to higher ground, I’m not sure if you have many options (we Canadians pretty much need our basements since our house, shed and garage are already full!)

Yep. My house is located on the “200 year flood plain” but I expect these things to be more frequent going forward. At the speed government operates at, I expect they’ll still be talking about building bigger dykes in 70 years.

 

[blaxsun]

Yep. My house is located on the “200 year flood plain” but I expect these things to be more frequent going forward. At the speed government operates at, I expect they’ll still be talking about building bigger dykes in 70 years.

That totally sucks to be sure. Glad you and your family are ok (and that your fish at least made it). BC has seen an unusual number of natural disasters this year. Regardless of the underlying reasons, I think that everyone probably agrees that lack of preparedness has amplified rather than reduces the impact.

I wish I was optimistic that government will apply lessons learned, but seeing how they've mishandled the pandemic for the past few years doesn't instil me with confidence.