Private Islands: Homeowners’ DIY Flood Deterrent

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As the waters of the Mississippi River continue to rise, thousands of homes are at risk of flooding. Past floods have taught us that dams, levees, spillways and other water diversion tactics can not always be counted upon to save towns or individual homes. As a result, some enterprising homeowners in the flood area are taking matters into their own hands with amazing DIY solutions for fending off the waters.

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(all images via: Popular Science)

These incredible images, posted at Popular Science, show the inventive steps homeowners are taking to keep their homes out of harm’s way. Building up hills of earth around their homes, these residents are doing everything they can to keep their homes safe from perpetually worsening flood waters.

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Some of the DIY dams are impressively effective, keeping the river well out of the yards and away from the homes. Others were unfortunately too short to hold back the swelling water.

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The man-made islands create a strange sort of landscape – or river-scape, as it were. As the floods worsen and the water grows higher and higher, all signs of land are obscured all around the home islands.

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While history has taught us that humans hardly ever triumph over nature – at least not in the long term – it seems that the homeowners who came up with the idea to build protective dirt walls have temporarily staved off disaster.