You are a Grandma of many talents, now add flood prevention to the list. This is a common site in Cambodia, so you know when walk up and then down again to get into someone's house, it might be an area prone to flooding. I keep this in mind when looking at rental rooms.
I did this same flood prevention as you once before, but I went out shopping and kind of forgot about it. When I returned home, I forgot to step up, stubbed my toes, and threw my groceries everywhere as I fell up my new homemade stairs. Luckily I wasn't hurt and I could laugh at myself for doing this. The more dangerous thing in Cambodia during flooding like this is electrocution. So many powerlines hang low and/or touch the ground, and sometimes people riding or walking through a puddle get the shock of their life if they are lucky enough to survive.
I can imagine your plight with your groceries! Yes, it's one thing that you should take into consideration. Always see to it that the ground elevation should be higher than the road. Not only that, try looking at the back if it's hilly or whether there's a body of water up there coming from the mountains. I guess that happened in Malaysia or somewhere just recently.
Actually, I paid 4 laborers to dig a canal by following the traces of flooding at the back. There's a hilly land at the back where the water goes down during heavy rains. Now you're right, I should look down first when I enter the backdoor or I should have it locked. Anyways, we don't use the dining area if there's only me and Antonia we use my cutting table for dining. Lol!