Hi all, this creek is next to my property. We are quite a bit higher up on sort of a bluff and the house is not in the FEMA flood zone, but I’m worried how this creek could change over time. Does this pose a large risk? there is a retaining wall about 15ft from the house all the way around
by throwaway_0kay
9 Comments
In short: yes.
How big is the watershed? What’s the typical rainfall event like? What’s Manning’s N like for the upstream area?
There are ways to calculate this that any local competent civil engineer could look into.
Keep an eye on it, take photos.
I lived near a creek that had a ton of water, flooded regularly… dang thing never moved and ground was stable.
Everyone should be concerned about erosion.
The best thing you can do is plant trees and allow the vegetation to grow along the banks. Black willow or sycamore live stakes are easy to harvest and plant in large quantity.
I really wouldn’t worry about this one.
It looks like a decently maintained natural stream with meander. Unless you happen to know about soil friability or mass wasting events in the watershed you’re likely to be long gone before this poses any risk to your house.
Signed: environmental consultant.
I grew up around a creek like this . It would cause lots of flooding for our neighbors backyard who was lower in elevation. The creek will ebb and flow with its “S”-shape over time. Couple options are to carve out the River so it flows straight (not worth it) , or as someone else mentioned plant some willows and sycamores near the creek bank . They’ll lock up the River edges and prevent erosion.
I have a river just like this on my property. It flows fast and does “flood” in the rainy season (Massachusetts) however there is dense vegetation around it so in 5 years of living here I have not seen any erosion. It is something to monitor. Take pictures each year and compare.
Yes. One-time wetland ecologist and landscaper here. You can see from the combination of flora and elevations that you’re tippy-toed into a flood plain. Looks like a 50/100 year style one though, so very long odds you’ll have an issue. Walls will not protect you if it happens though; Not predictably; Innundation of such low soil types will cause structural issues through permeation rather than outright overflow.
This is very much like a campsite that you know better than to turn into a long term shelter site. If you wouldn’t use the stones for a fire pit (because boom) then you shouldn’t build there.
Too bad because the sight lines are very pleasant. I would not live there if I owned it.
All that said, I’m not a current professional, nor engineer. Maybe you’ll just have some unpleasant years and it will be worth it. Engineering for this kind of flood area is almost impossible because it will happen so rarely you get caught in the particularities of “15m over normal happens every 150 years but 10m over normal happens every 50 years” kinds of questions. How do you plan for that?
Look at the flooding history for that creek, that is the only data you really need.