Concerns about climate change and the risk of flooding as wet weather events get more severe have grown in recent years, but across the north west, recent events were particularly alarming.
For some, the New Year was less about singing Auld Lang Syne than putting on the Wellies or being stranded. This was especially so in the north west, which, while used to a generally rainy climate, was unprepared for some of the severe conditions that arose.
The Mersey Valley was a prime example of this. An old mill in the centre of Stockport that had been converted into flats saw its residents stranded and the car park flooded, with one poor businessman’s ambitions to open a new gym in the basement ruined as the waters soaked and wrecked all his equipment. Outside, several cars were written off.
Further west, parts of Didsbury in south Manchester suffered flooding as even the riverside earth banks and use of sports fields as natural flood plains proved insufficient to prevent homes from becoming awash with water.
This will have included lots of cars suffering water damage while sitting on flooded driveways, which suggests something needs to be done to improve the resilience of driveways to floods, both to make it harder to flood in the first place and to speed up the drying process as weather conditions ease.
There are several things you can do with your driveway to increase flood resilience. Part of the solution lies in using surfacing materials that enable easier drainage.
As Gardening etc notes, these options include using resin driveways, as they are designed with porous layers underneath, and while they are water resistant, they will allow water to pass through and not gather in puddles.
Other steps that can be taken include adding extra measures like a swale, a kind of ditch filled with plants and ornaments, providing a channel to soak up and drain away water. Even if the flood is so bad that everything is underwater, this will speed up the process as the waters subside.
Similar options include a French drain, using a pipe hidden underground to divert the water away, while using the right kind of soil can help drainage too. Another suggestion made by Gardening etc was to ensure the driveway has a slope on it to ease run-off, but this is less likely to be a viable option on flat flood plains such as those found in south Manchester.
For that reason, it is important to focus on making drainage better for faster flood recovery – and resin driveways are a great solution to help ensure this.
Some would say that, ideally, we need to take major steps to halt climate change, but that is a challenge for the world. Others will say flood defences need to be beefed up, which is something central and local government may address.
However, individual households can take some important steps themselves, partly to make themselves less prone to flood and also to be more resilient, so that if they do get flooded, the damage is less and the recovery faster. Thankfully, this is clearly possible with the design and surfacing of driveways, not least when using resin surfaces.