Flood Success Stories and Lessons Learned

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Scott Young Properties (Marco Polo Furniture Building)

In a prior life, the building above was devastated byAustin's 1981 flood. It changed owners and was renovated and subsequently floodproofed a few years ago. The new owner worked closely with the City of Austin to meet more stringent floodplain building codes. The details on this floodproofing can be seen in the slideshow. On Nov. 15th, the building had three feet of water outside and less than one gallon inside. The owner commented that even though the floodproofing hadn't actually added that much more cost to the building cost, it was more than paid for in just this single event.

A survivor of previous floods, Fran Pierce had luckily agreed to be bought out of the flood plain in the Onion Creek neighborhood before the Nov. 15th storm hit. (text below)

• Quicktime (1 meg)

The business "All Things Celtic" was hard hit by the flood. They had insurance, a great landlord and plenty of volunteer help but were still devastated by the event.

• Magazine article