Flash floods in our cities and on our highways

The increased hard surfacing of soil in our cities  comes at a high price when it comes to localised flooding risks.

Higher than normal short term intensities ( up around 75 mm per hr -3inches per hour ) are common for localised thunderstorms but affect small areas;  such events usually last less than an hour and are usually quite localized  .
The more normal high intensity for rainfall we experience down here each year is more  around 25mm per hour (" 1"per hour).,

The worst and biggest type of floods occur , not when we have these localized cloud bursts,  but when moist air is unlifted for many hours by the local topography and wind direction( as can easily happen on the Otway Range and happened on the Toowoomba range recently)      
Huge floods occur only when many hours of rain are involved as many soils can  take in the 25mm per hour for the first hour.
What happened in Geelong last week can happen in lots of places where roofs paths and roads cover the landscape .
Here are some things to think about  to avoid the risk of damage and danger where you are . As well some ideas on how you can help .

ROADS  
We can't do much about the huge swathes of roads except to ALL drive much much slower or , when possible and safe , get right off the road  if a storm hits ( assuming that they will not last long )

TYRES
Wide tyred vehicles are most at risk from slipping and skiing on accumulating patches of water on roads( whatever the tread depth)  Why have them ?

HOMES
A small dense beautiful part of our back garden survives quite well without much extra watering through the summer because it receives summer rain off the garage roof .
The stormwater system does not need this water when storms like the one that hit Geelong last week

GARDEN PRESERVATION PLANNING
Put in your rainfall figures in here  and see also the water requirement required to keep the precious parts of your  garden alive here   shows  Litres per m2  per month on average.