Hello everyone! How was your day? Here, we had constant rain every now and then. It's unpredictable that it made me nervous Everytime it rained non-stop! It's because a 30-minute non-stop vigorous rain will immediately lead to overflowing of our canal at the corner most of the street beside our residence.
We had heavy rain last September 24 and it lasted for an hour which caused the street flooding from the overflowing of the canals.
My garden looked liked a fishpond!
As expected, the water begun to rise and entered the lower part of our house which is the dining area. It was good the we still had some bag of sand beside the kitchen.
I immediately placed a scrap tarpaulin and plastic bag and placed it first for the base and poured the sand then folded upward along with the litttle sack of sand, which I hoped would be heavy enough so as not to let the flood penetrate further. It was effective. I have estimated the elevation of our door and the pavement and higher than that, the flood will go down to the other side which leads to the creek. All I needed to do is to prevent it from entering our dining area before it goes down to the other side.
When the rain stopped, the water immediately subsided too. Well, I've sent a message to my friend to ask for a rescue but it was not available and that's the reason why I reacted on impulse! It's a big job once the flood goes down and leaving traces of mud in our place!
I told myself that I will do my own DIY Barricade before it rained again. I looked around and thought of the beam samples which I got from our construction site where I worked years back. It was solid and more durable than those substandard hollow blocks sold at the nearby store! Anyways, I only needed three beams to cover our doorways. Therefore, I only needed few kilos of cement and a bag of waterproofing cement compound.
Operation Barricade
After procuring the necessary materials, I immediately let my grandson collect the beams I needed.
I mixed the sand, cement in two is to one ratio and a part of waterproofing cement. I did this while sitting on my chair to prevent myself from stooping longer because I just had a bad fall from my motorcycle. Well, I thought that the stand was still down when I started to kick the starter (there's no magneto) and alighted to find out later it wasn't so it went down with me! Careless me. Lol!
I placed some amount of mixed cement for the base before placing the beams on top, leaving a little space to insert the cement to let it stick together or else the water will still be able to penetrate just in case.
I see to it that the base was fully filled with cement from end to end and in between the beams.
Then I placed a piece of lumber to support the cement and added more for compaction and pressed the wood.
There, it looked stable now. The barrier I made was about 6" high.
For safety, I still placed the sand cover for protection since the cement was still wet just in case it rains again.:)
That will do for now! It's only temporary but it can save me from flooding again. I only live with my two young grandkids (with Antonia only most of the time) hence I have to do a man's job.:) Of course, I already have a plan to have a cement wall to level with the terrace flooring. Hmmm, about 30 hollow blocks in three layers will do. I will do that when my budget allowance is more than enough for us.
Thank you for dropping by my page. Keep safe everyone!
Amazing! It's good you all knew about this carp
Yes dear, I've seen that in our construction firm in Manila and I am observant too esp when I had a family. This time, I did it my own way! :)
Keep safe always ate Glo and your family. 😊
Thanks for the concern dear
Grabeeh ka sister wa mgsakit imo hawak?
Hahaha Well, I used my chair for support sis. Actually, it's like mixing flour and sugar when you bake a cake, right? :)
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!
Great job! As the old saying goes, necessity s the mother of invention and they are usually great inventions too! I hope that it keeps the rain out and protects you home for you.
Goodluck and best wishes to you!
Indeed! We tend to create and develop any resources available out of necessity hence we have the so-called DIY.:)
Yes, it was effective. I've managed to stop the flood from penetrating inside. It was a great achievement on my part. Thank you for passing by and have a great day as well.
Yes I think you did an awesome job and I look forward to seeing more of your creations too!
And until then, take care and be safe.
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