Make Homes Float

In a world where floods are becoming alarmingly frequent, buoyant fo undations can keep buildings safely above water.

- By Elizabeth English

WHEN HURRICANE KATRINA hit in 2005, I was an associate professor at the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center in Baton Rouge, studying the aerodynamic behaviour of wind-borne debris. I'd previously lived in New Orleans and knew the local landscape, so several reporters asked me to help them navigate the city streets after the storm. We boated through roads that had become waterways. The damage I saw that day brought me to tears: we floated through a drowned McDonald's drive-thru and stopped at porches to pick up dogs who were stranded. One of the reporters later told me he saw a dead body in the water.

A few weeks later, I returned to New Orleans with researchers from the centre. The wind, it turned out, damaged a limited set of buildings; the flooding, however, affected everybody and caused roughly 1,400 deaths. In the city's Lower Ninth Ward, it was so bad that electricity wasn't restored to some areas for more than a year. FEMA's solution was for residents to elevate their houses on stilts or permanently relocate. I knew there had to be a better way, so I shifted my research focus from wind to water.

As the climate crisis intensifies, floods are only becoming more frequent and severe. According to the UN, two billion people will be at risk of exposure to extreme flooding by 2050. Last September, Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on much of the southeastern United States. Weeks later, Hurricane Milton devastated parts of Florida, leaving behind an estimated US$50 billion in damages. Canada isn't safe, either: last July, Toronto received 100 millimetres of rain in three hours, knocking out power and submerging parts of the city. And last fall, an atmospheric river caused widespread flooding across B.C.'s Lower Mainland.