96 | Green Roads for Water
PHOTO 5.8
Use of turfing combined with jute netting
Source: © The Vetiver Network. Used with permission. Further permission required for reuse.
TABLE 5.4 Recommended
practices for roads as flood shelters and evacuation routes
RECOMMENDED PRACTICE
Road alignment
Prioritize the development and heightening of roads leading to designated emergency shelters.
Polders
Create heightened road bodies in low-lying areas of the polder to create safe routes and safe temporary shelters during flood events and refuge areas in the post-flood scenario.
Embankment and flood protection
Create levees along vulnerable sections of the roads to protect roads and embankments and create flood and post-flood shelters for humans and livestock.
Evacuation
Plan evacuation routes using road infrastructure.
Source: MetaMeta (www.roadsforwater.com).
Consider levees along roads to temporarily accommodate flood-affected persons In addition to raising the roads in the lowest sections of low-lying coastal areas, levees may be created along internal roads and along specific embankment sections. These levees can shelter people and livestock during floods and high- water events. These higher sections should be created in especially high-risk areas using the remaining silt from the excavation of canals, ponds, or rivers. Such sections along the roads could provide the opportunity to temporarily accommodate flood victims (people, cattle, and goods) until their homes have been rehabilitated (photo 5.10). Levees should be spaced at strategic distances so that they are accessible throughout flood-prone areas, placing them along more exposed sections of flood embankments so they can serve as additional reinforcements. The same may also be done for the area outside the embankments. Finally, use of these levees should be regulated by local governments to prevent the undesired permanent occupation of flood shelters. Plans for emergency facilities should be based on estimates of the number of people and livestock that will depend on them during floods. As a rule of thumb, the minimum space needed for a person to take shelter lying down is 1.5 square meters. Although that is sufficient space over the short term, 3.5 square meters of covered area is more appropriate for longer-term emergency space (Red Cross 2013). An average household in Bangladesh, for instance, has 4.6 members
