House behind the dam - what should be considered?

So buying a plot in the city where I already live and was also born, and not building in an area that would be underwater in the event of a dam failure, is almost impossible.... Either you go underground or you build directly into the hillside... with accordingly steep terrain. And for the most part, you don't have to worry about terracing... Or the next possibility would be near a road similar to a federal highway.... So the choices are very limited. And both the hillside (costs, steepness of the terrain not suitable for our needs) and next to a semi-federal road (dog, child, noise pollution as there is no noise barrier) are not something we can make use of. So, does anyone have any useful suggestions for securing a house?

Well, if it was so severe that water is even entering the upper floor... There really is a life-threatening danger if such a dam breaks.

How high is the dam? If it is higher than the edge of the window on the upper floor, I wouldn’t build there! The dam won’t break if only 60% of its height is reached, but only when it is flooded, meaning it is too low for the water masses.

We can still look over it. It’s not a wall in our field of vision right now.

In the meantime, after your concerns, I looked further into the neighbors and apparently I had some bad luck in my first conversation. Basic insurance including flood damage is indeed possible, since there is only a very low flood risk :confused: Which seems well calculated to me about 100 m behind the dam, but if the insurances see it that way... Groundwater has come to the surface only 3 times at different locations (but strangely at higher points), only on the street and without damage to houses. The last time was during "our" flood of the century in 1999. It was the highest mark since measurement began.

How high exactly the dam is... I’d estimate about 4m from our side at the highest point, but it goes a bit lower on the river side, around 5-6m ?. But the plot is not that low, since the terrain rises slightly immediately afterward, then remains relatively flat.

And by being underwater I mean at least water flowing into the door. Depending on flood height, more than that. Looking at the demolition house (which was already standing before the dam was built), I would say the "normal" flood height was about 40 cm. Door entrance at ground level.

Maybe this helps with further construction tips? Can a house be built "elevated"? Not directly on stilts, but like with a kind of thickened base slab?

How many floors are possible? Maybe plan only garage(s)/cellar replacement rooms on the ground floor and the apartment only from the upper floor?

Can a house also be built "elevated"? Not directly on stilts, but some kind of thickened base plate?

It was already rejected.