Flood Smart
Layla Sparks bought her first home along the Russian river in Guerneville, CA in 2005. As a first time homeowner, she realized the new level of responsibility that homeownership required by fighting constant flooding problems in her downstairs. While in love with the property, Layla and her fiancé Mike Donaldson hated the flooding and decided to elevate their new home five feet. They completed the elevation with pride in October 2005; and the first test came in late December, five storms passed through the region dumping 17 inches of rain and flooding the Russian river 27.5 feet above the normal level. But proper planning and the elevation increase saved the young couple from potentially devastating flood waters.
The Donaldson’s are newly engaged and working on their dream home which needs elevated. The old home flooded routinely causing the previous homeowners repetitive loss and ultimately selling for a cheap price. Working with limited resources, the new couple lumbered their cluster of Redwoods in the backyard creating free building supplies for the elevation. They used beautiful redwood beams and exposed slate from the local river to raise the foundation above the 100 year flood plain.
Layla Sparks and Mike Donaldson; a new couple with a new home on the Russian river, the only problem was, their first home was in sad shape from constant flooding and water damage. So they saw an opportunity to live in the area they preferred by mitigating the structure and elevating their dream home above the 100 year flood plain. With Limited resources and a lot of hard work they spent 10,000 dollars and permanently elevated their home protecting themselves and their property. After series of winter storms dumped tremendous amounts of water into the river, they watched as the water lapped up against the newly elevated home. They had no water damage from the flood and all of their property was protected safely inside the home.
The Donaldson’s used hard work to afford their mitigation practice; they felt strongly that with the ten thousand dollars spent, it would save thousands each year in property losses from flooding. “After five years it will have paid for itself” said Mike. They used hard work and savvy engineering to change their houses elevation and mitigate the flood problems in the area.
When Mike and Layla decided to elevate their home, they didn’t know where to begin, so they worked with the city of Guerneville to establish where the high water lines exist and locate the 100 year floodplain elevation. “The city was very helpful, they sent a specialist out to our house and he mapped the elevations for us, after that it was all easy, we elevated with one day and did the finishing work over the next couple of months” said Layla.
Mike and Layla did a lot of work with minimal resources, and the end product was a successful mitigation strategy.” We didn’t have a lot of money for resources, so we did it ourselves, and after the floodwaters retreated and our home was dry we felt a great sense of accomplishment” said Layla. The Donaldson’s had a strong desire to elevate their home, and working with limited resources, they were able to succeed beyond their dreams. If they can do it anyone can.
Last Modified: Tuesday, 30-Jan-2007 14:01:46 EST