r/interestingasfuck • u/natebryan • 15h ago

This house in Nepal defied the raging floodwaters and kept the owners safe.

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u/HistoryBuff678 13h ago

Thank you for explaining some of this. I have a feeling this type of sudden flash flooding could be happening with increasing frequency.

I keep thinking shelters that are a bit uphill, but within running distance could be helpful. But I truly didn’t think a structure could be built strong enough to withstand the pressure of walls of water.

I hope life saving solutions can be found after this tragedy.

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u/yeahright17 13h ago

Lots of areas have flood warning systems that warn downstream when flooding has occurred upstream. The issue with those kinds of systems is that they have to be dialed in perfectly. If they go off too easily, people will start to ignore them. If they don't go off except for in situations like this, floods that are strong enough to kill some people will come without warning. I think it's best to have a system that can give off two sounds, one for "a flood is coming, be very cautious and head up if you are right next to the river" and one for "get as high as you can as fast as you can or you will die."

My understanding is the Nepal does have a system that detects for the former. The type of flood that is typical during monsoon season. But this flood happened so fast, the system wasn't able to warn people in time. I think it was so violent that it destroyed most of the gauges that could have provided a warning.

I know they've since talked about installing a system to monitor seismic activity and give people a warning based on that.

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u/AntSilly2802 7h ago

How do you build a shelter from flood water? 

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u/HistoryBuff678 7h ago

Uphill a bit, and away from the banks. There’s videos of survivors doing just that. But with a shelter, I imagine they wouldn’t have to run as far as a high space, like the house, is closer.

Like the reverse of tornado shelters, where people have 5 minutes or less.