Developers

Irrigate plants as well as your water situation allows.Avoid shrubs, trees and mulches with a high resin content. Avoid ladderfuels. These plants create a ladder for the fire to climb onto the roof ofthis home.Clean debris from gutters and roof. Leaves on the roof and in thegutters provide tinder for blowing sparks.Use thin layers of mulch; enough to suppress weeds but not enough tosmolder for hours.Avoid ladder fuels. These are subsequent plantings of grass andgroundcovers, shrubs and then trees. This style of planting allows fire tomove up to the treetops.Maintain all plants by regularly removing dead branches and leaves3.2.4 Flooding - As land is converted from fields or woodlands to roadsand parking lots, it loses its ability to absorb rainfall. Urbanization,or increasing nonporous paving materials, increases runoff two tosix times over what would occur on natural terrain. During periodsof urban flooding, streets can become swift moving rivers.Several factors contribute to flooding: rainfall intensity andduration. Intensity is the rate of rainfall, and duration is how longthe rain lasts.Topography, soilconditions, andground coveralso playimportant roles.Most flashflooding iscaused by slowmovingthunderstorms,thunderstormsrepeatedlymoving over the same area, or heavy rains from hurricanes andtropical storms. Floods, on the other hand, can be slow-or fastrising, but generally develop over a period of hours or days. Know ifa structure will be susceptible to flooding on your site. Yourarchitect should be able to assist you. Elevate the first floor slababove finished grade. Redirect runoff into ponds on the propertyor places where the water can be absorbed by the ground. Swalesare created to direct runoff to specific areas.19