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Amphibious Homes: A Real Solution to Flooding?

Fabian Nehrbass. Amphibious Homes: A Real Solution to Flooding?. Sea level rise- floods. Thailand $45 billion dollars damage due to floods in the past two years Australia $9.6 billion 1.4 million people live in Louisiana’s coastal parishes 634,000 homes New Orleans sea level rise:

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Amphibious Homes: A Real Solution to Flooding?

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  1. Fabian Nehrbass Amphibious Homes: A Real Solution to Flooding?

  2. Sea level rise- floods • Thailand $45 billion dollars damage due to floods in the past two years • Australia $9.6 billion • 1.4 million people live in Louisiana’s coastal parishes • 634,000 homes • New Orleans sea level rise: • 8” by 2030 • 19” by 2050

  3. Possible solutions: • Levees • Restoration of wetlands • Sediment use form Mississippi to rebuild land • Abandon land • Adapt!

  4. Amphibious homes • Allows the home to sit close to the ground, and in the event of a flood, rise up with the rising water

  5. Why not just elevate homes? • Increased vulnerability of the structure to wind damage • Elevations are expensive • $40,000-$60,000 to elevate vs. $25,000 to retrofit existing house with floating foundation • Difficult access to living areas • Loss of character

  6. Advantages of floating homes • No loss of character • Cheaper than elevating • No issues with soil subsidence • Less vulnerable to hurricane damage

  7. Problems with floating homes • FEMA does not believe they are a good strategy to protect against hurricane flooding • Storm surge can still push water into such a home • Still need to evacuate • Only work in areas where water rises slowly • Size and weight limitations

  8. Problems continued • **National Flood Insurance Program will not insure floating houses because they are not considered anchored to the ground** • Chance they aren’t allowed • In Lakeview, house wasn’t allowed in “special flood hazard zone” • More susceptible to wind damage?

  9. FEMA • Suggestions

  10. How it works – Buoyant Foundation Project • Shotgun retrofitting • Buoyancy blocks and a vertical guidance system interconnected by a light structural frame • Utility lines have either long, coiled “umbilical” lines or self-sealing “breakaway” connections that disconnect gas and sewer lines when the house begins to rise

  11. Examples • Netherlands • Maas River • Prison • Greenhouses • Maldives – designed by Watersudio • Raccourci Old River, Louisiana • 9th Ward • Lakeview • UK

  12. FLOAT House, 9th Ward

  13. FLOAT House, 9th Ward

  14. FLOAT House, 9th Ward

  15. “Noah’s Ark” –Lakeview

  16. Raccourci Old River

  17. Maas River • $310,000 each (about 25% greater) • All survived major floods in 2011

  18. Maas River

  19. Maas River

  20. Floating prison- Zaandem, Netherlands

  21. Floating prison- Zaandem, Netherlands

  22. Maldives

  23. Maldives

  24. Conclusion • No flood insurance, no success • Frequency of storms? • Wind protection? • Float them down the river to Baton Rouge!

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