Solve The Flooding Problem. Build Everything On 15 Foot Stilts.

[TheMastersNemesis]

Build everything on stilts. Include the highways and all the infrastructure. Then put an emergency boat dock under everything. So when it floods you can use your boat like they do in Venice.

With global warming they are going to need it. It all will be under water soon enough and it may be sooner than you think.

[marybourg]

1. What happens if there's an earthquake? nt

[kwassa]

2. The stilts fall, go boom.

Like the falling freeways in California.

[marybourg]

9. Also a problem for the elderly.

Ramps are O.K for young paraplegics, but the elderly in walkers, wheelchairs and even just with canes, or with heart or pulmonary conditions can't usually manage steep ramps.

[jmowreader]

14. They can't manage 205 extra feet of walking either

The Americans with Disabilities Act specifies the maximum slope on a newly constructed ramp to be one foot of run for each foot of rise. If you need to go up a foot, the ramp has to be 12 feet long.

Every 30 feet of run, you have to insert a five-foot-long level platform unless you're in California; there the platform has to be six feet long. This can either be a turn, or a rest platform.

The OP wants everything to be 15 feet up. 15 feet is 180 inches, so you need 180 feet of slope and, since 180 feet divides evenly into six 30-foot ramp runs, you need five rest platforms (25 feet total, unless in CA and then it's 30) plus the platform at the top...

Seriously dude, the only way you're going to get a 15-foot elevated platform to be ADA compliant without killing the disabled is to install elevators.

[marybourg]

15. Yes. Not a practical idea

for an aging population, or one with an increasing number of war-caused disabilities.

[suffragette]

17. I'm picturing those apartments with car ports in Northridge. Basically pancaked.

[Motley13]

3. I did see photos of houses on stilts in Houston, don't know how the homes made out but

their cars ddn't

[Not Ruth]

4. Pretty common

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stockton_edu/16100016420

[JimGinPA]

5. I Lived On Clearwater Beach, FL Back In The 80's

All new construction had to be built on pilings driven into the ground (usually with parking underneath) because we were just barely above sea level. I thought it was a good idea then & I sure think it's a good idea now anyplace flooding is possible.

[ProgressiveValue]

6. What about the extreme winds?

[Leith]

7. Here's Another Idea

When rebuilding, include slopes for water run-off. Las Vegas doesn't get much rain, but the whole city is connected by dry riverbeds and concrete washes built in natural drainage areas. They work and home insurance is cheaper.

[LeftInTX]

11. Las Vegas is hilly

And I bet LV would be in dire straits if it received 50 inches of rain in 3 days.

I'm in San Antonio, which has a terrain similar to Las Vegas and if we got 50 inches of rain in 3 days, this place would be a mess.

[Leith]

12. Any Place Would Be in Bad Shape with That Kind of Rain

Vegas is surrounded by hills, but it is mostly flat. There are some areas that aren't (like the hill just to the west of Galleria Mall), but it is mostly a gentle slope from the west down to the Wetlands Park in the east.

With rain like that, the Vegas Valley squirt water out between the mountains like a water balloon with holes poked in it and squeezed. The desert floor doesn't absorb water any better than concrete.

Still, a bit of flood control planning wouldn't do Houston any harm.

[Awsi Dooger]

16. Las Vegas took major steps regarding flooding about 30 years ago

There was a small rise in sales tax to fund the massive project. Voter approved. I was new in town and didn't realize how necessary it was until years later.

Now there are huge cement channels and storm drains, including ones near the Strip protecting the major hotel/casinos. Very effective although extreme flooding can still overrun the channels. There was one maybe late '90s in which a poker player acquaintance of mine was stuck in the wash behind Harrah's. He was all over the news while being rescued. He acted as if it were no big deal.

Clark County would really be in bad shape if the foresight had been lacking. Well, maybe it wasn't foresight as much as reacting to floods before I came to town. The timing was good, since it barely preceded the dramatic population explosion.

[nolabear]

8. That's what a great deal of post Katrina coastal construction is.

You can't build on the ground in some areas now. The houses are nice and the car ports are great.

[UTUSN]

10. The prototype being Melania's heels and the point on her hubby's head

[dalton99a]

13. +1