Reply To: Improvements to refrigerators and freezers – Flooding

Centre for Appropriate Technology Discussion Energy Improvements to refrigerators and freezers – Flooding Reply To: Improvements to refrigerators and freezers – Flooding

#1928
Luke Barbagallo
Keymaster

    Hey Saeed, great to hear you found the previous repsonse helpful. I’ve had a go at answering your queries one by one below.

    1 – Previously I was told that current fridges and freezers are kept in concrete base, and undercover facilities. Are the these flood resistant, or do they find are there regular issues?
    A – Most structures on the cape are elevated off ground level making them slightly more flood resilient, and also creating an air gap for termites.

    3 – What are the current systems, technology and practices used to mitigate flooding risk in the region for existing infrastructure in general?
    A – the main flood risk mitigation practice on the peninsula is seasonal migration; many people leave country during the wet season to avoid being isolated by flooded crossings and roads. Simple flood risk mitigation comes in the form of elevated structures, on strong foundations.

    4 – Are there areas in the region, which are geographically advantageous in avoiding flooding (elevated regions such as hills etc)?
    A – Certainly there are some area that are slightly more elevated, but one of the major flood risks is not structure damage, but isolation and being cut off; even is a structure is on higher ground and has limited physical risk from a flood, the occupants of that location face significant personal risk through isolation.

    5 – Are the caves in Cape York prone to flooding?
    A – I’m unsure – I would head to google to do some further research on this. one thing I might add however, is that many sacred sights and locations of rock art throughout northern Australia are located in or at the entrance to cave structures. Whilst such a location might be technically suitable for your purpose, you have to ask whether it is socially or culturally suitable.

    6 – Does the flooding season in Cape York continuously cause issues for 6 months, are they irregular?
    A – The wet season is pretty regular and predictable, within reason; it may start and end a few weeks early or late, there is no way to know until the season is actually changing. Even during the dry season, many river and creek crossings on the Peninsula are difficult to manage, so it doesn’t require much rain for much of the crossings to be affected.

    7 – Are there any infrastructure in Cape York which use an elevated platform/base to mitigate flooding risk?
    A – yes, see previous answers. Also, review some of the buildings that are in the photographs of your design area, and in particular, do the Bush Light interactive walk through to gain context from that ranger stations
    8 – Are there any infrastructure which use an airtight/sealing system to mitigate flooding risk?
    A – Not to our knowledge.

    Hope this is helpful Saeed!

    Cheers,

    luke