# One Man that saved his house from the Floods **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069 "2011-05-16T05:29:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/1 "2011-05-16T05:29:21Z")
I love creative out of the box thinking. 😃 > [@](#): > > The effort to save the three-bedroom house began late last month when Mr. Petty, an auto mechanic with no flood insurance, hired an excavator to dig a moat and pile the earth on the outside rim to form a levee. This guys determination to save his home is pretty cool. He even had a tractor with a pump to keep his moat from overflowing. With all the misery and destruction it’s nice seeing one house saved. [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/us/14moat.html?\_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/us/14moat.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss) If it was me, I’d regrade that a bit and keep the ditch in place for next time. Maybe run a French Drain along the bottom to divert water away from the property. With grass planted and a more gentle slope it would look fine. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/2 "2011-05-16T07:08:43Z")
Too bad he fell victim to looters! > [@](#): > > While he was working on the levee, about 100 people arrived and cleared Mr. Petty’s house of all belongings. He had not asked them to. It just happened. He said he did not even know who some of them were. His wife, Cheryl, stayed with her parents at night, and both of his adult sons came over to help. Various videos are making the rounds–here’s [one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKsehkcIF8&feature=player_embedded). ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/3 "2011-05-16T11:25:45Z")
Yea, he may have saved his house this year. Jury is still out on that too. But how about next year and the year after? Where’s the future for the kids? In my book this is no way to live. However, the river people have a completely different attitude about it. Even the ones being flooded by the opening of the Morganza were not mad. I don’t get it, but that’s why I’m here and they are there. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/4 "2011-05-16T18:49:21Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Too bad he fell victim to looters! Is that really looters, or is it neighbors helping out by moving his stuff out of harm’s way (in case the levee doesn’t hold)? The article doesn’t seem to mention this with malice at all, and mentions the neighborhood pitching in in at least one other place. > [@the article](#): > > He had not asked them to. It just happened. He said he did not even know who some of them were. That would be a very odd way to describe looters. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/5 "2011-05-16T18:55:00Z")
Sorry, I was kidding. The article’s phrasing just struck me as odd and kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/6 "2011-05-17T15:49:49Z")
That’s a great lesson in not giving up, but I think any given homeowner is likely to fail in such efforts. His house must have been just high enough or close enough to the edges of the flooding that the effort made a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/7 "2011-05-17T17:29:56Z")
“So, Mr Petty, looks like the river is going to overflow and flood your house. What do you think?” “Dammit.” ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/8 "2011-05-17T17:34:24Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > In my book this is no way to live. What’s “this”? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/9 "2011-05-17T19:23:08Z")
Why don’t these people build their houses on pilings? like people at the coasts sometimes do. If you build a house on 20’ pilings, you probabaly escape 99% of the flood events. plus, you can use the space underneath as a parking garage. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/10 "2011-05-17T20:55:22Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Why don’t these people build their houses on pilings? like people at the coasts sometimes do. > If you build a house on 20’ pilings, you probabaly escape 99% of the flood events. > plus, you can use the space underneath as a parking garage. But that would mean first a homeowner must admit they do not control nature. I do wonder how much reinforcement of any pilings would you have to do to account for flowing river water. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/11 "2011-05-17T23:38:51Z")
There are homes by the river outside my hometown on stilts. They are about 7 feet off the ground. That area floods every year and most of the time the houses stay dry. They are primarily weekend/vacation homes. No one goes down there during the floods because the roads are unusable. I can’t imagine anyone living in those houses during the flooding. They’d have to use a boat to get in/out. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/12 "2011-05-18T05:07:07Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I do wonder how much reinforcement of any pilings would you have to do to account for flowing river water. It would vary by the volume of flow, flood height, and velocity of flow. Some backwater areas have very low velocities and such foundations are satisfactory. In some other areas, they won’t withstand the forces. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-man-that-saved-his-house-from-the-floods/582069/13 "2011-05-18T05:08:37Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > No one goes down there during the floods because the roads are unusable. I can’t imagine anyone living in those houses during the flooding. They’d have to use a boat to get in/out. Probably don’t have any electricity, water, or sewer service during those times either. The power company typically cuts power to flooded areas, sewer systems are flooded out and water systems shut off to prevent contamination.