In the east coast they use sump pumps for basements getting water from all the snow in winter. Would these even work in Houston? I tried to do a bit of research on Google but couldn't find any more info in relation to hurricane flooding and sump pumps. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
For a little pooling water, yeah it can work great. If you got an inch or two in your home during Harvey it might work if you can pump the water to a drainage system somewhere away from your house. If you and your neighbors legit FLOODED, then no, a sump pump wont save you.
I drove by an old man in a yard in Angleton by Oyster Creek trying to do this over the weekend. He had sort of his own levy separating his yard from the ditch. His yard was huge (1 acre+) and he was pumping water back into the ditch...which was at the same water level as his yard. i wanted to stop and tell him he was wasting his time and that the soil wasn't waterproof but I figured he already got an earful from his wife, who was standing their with her arms crossed.
For most of the flooding around town that I saw, this would be akin to putting a pump in a river and pumping water back into the river to keep the riverbed dry. There was a guy that put one of these up during the floods last year in Rosharon : http://aquadam.net/ ... saved his house from the floods. Not sure if he used it for Harvey or if it would've worked, though. *EDIT* : Here it is -
Nice, yeah, pump would definitely not work in bad/rapid flood areas just too much too quickly, your example of a river is perfect, but this aqua dam is interesting. I also wonder if he tried it for Harvey, a higher dam or even this height might have worked depending on area.
Lol thanks for the input guys! Haha my sister is adamant in shilling however many thousands it is for a sump pump. Being our backyard dips down and the water line was 2 feet up but we only got a 4-5 inches in the house. Haha what reason would i give her?
The neighbor next to us flooded. And some houses in the neighborhood had minimal damage. The brand new houses didn't flood cos their foundation is higher up. We have a nice house it's just a 1950 build with a '99 remodel so the foundation is obviously lower. However, our street flooded just like memorial day '15 so I don't think a sump pump to the street will work.