With a heightened sense of tragedy in our Texas Hill Country Guadeloupe River flooding disaster, I can’t help but think of different scenarios for the future.
How would a “large” safe room dome have withstood some of the recent flooding? “Large" would have to be big enough to hold at least 300 folks in an evacuation situation. However, if it would be promoted / financed by many, then I can see needing room for at least twice that many folks.
Evacuating 300+ folks in a short time is not an easy task; even when they’re all cooperating. The closer the dome is situated to the folks; the better.
Wood a large dome be sealed enough to withstand 10’s of hours of flood waters? Or would it have to be situated on high-and-dry land (ideally?) There could be a buffer wall around it to reduce the effects.
What are your thoughts? I’m thinking on future happenings.
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We get flash floods even on the east side of IH35. You might already know that the San Gabriel River flooded where two rivers meet in Georgetown, and then crested just a few minutes east of Georgetown at 36 feet (27 feet above flood stage). So water is on my mind! We will be looking for property with some terrain, and will be building at as high an altitude as possible. We’ll have the back half of two partial toruses tucked in a hillside.
I’ve read somewhere that in the event of a really big flood above 700 feet is where you want to be. I would think for a shelter like you are talking about, the highest piece of land in the area is what you’d be looking for. If the highest can’t be bought, then the next highest, etc. Are you thinking of making it underground? I wonder if the water would mostly just go on over the underground house without really soaking down too far. We need a flood expert!
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The domes built on beaches have survived hurricanes. They are designed to handle storm surge that flows through the lower half of the dome. In addition they are built on pillars that extend into the ground. I can’t remember how deep they go but seems like 30 or 40 feet? Engineering needed to determine the extra strength required to withstand the storm surge, but building in a flood zone is doable.
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I’ve done a little bit of sleuthing on the Monolithic site and ran across a newspaper article from 2013 discussing a project near the Corpus Christi Gulf Coast area. One of the quotes in it:
Cynthia Teer, executive assistant to David South, president of Monolithic, said the domes are tornado-, hurricane-, fire- and earthquake-resistant, and word is getting out slowly with the increase in natural disasters. “We’re still a bit of a secret,” she said, adding that the dome houses would be well-suited for the Coastal Bend because they can be built on raised concrete platforms to withstand high winds and flooding.
At least Monolithic has considered the possibility (in the past) of flooding.
I would think monolithic domes would hold up well in floods in the sense they are unlikely to be picked up and swept downstream in the flood. With opening for windows and doors, flooding of the interior would still be an issue unless it was designed in such a way like the above mentioned ocean side domes to have the lower floors submerged and not really be damaged. One thing that I would worry about would be downstream scouring in a severe flooding situation much like what a bridge pier would see that might undermine the foundation. I’m guessing though if one was building a dome in a area prone to flooding, precautions could be taken to minimize or prevent that from happening.
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That has always been the $64K question in my mind, and will always be what guides my purchases; whether for assets or services.
I’m thinking, though, that the location of a community-based safe room would expeditiously be chosen with elevation in mind. Most probably, the financing would require that to happen.