What stops rain from flooding your city?

[@Lam]

Sign up to Brilliant using my link and get 20% off your annual subscription: brilliant.org/AndrewLam

[@zaj007]

Hey. Put the yellow outlines in the thumbnail. The video is great! Just the thumbnail sucks. Make it clearer what the video is about

[@JMLoope]

​@@zaj007 😅 7:59 😅

[@TommyCheese-cd2fd]

Do you think our country is about to go to war with China because of the Chinese government our is it our own government? God knows no one with any sense wants anyone to suffer

[@r.ccustomtruckingsydneyaus4632]

so why didn't they cover this or better yet drill a tunnel under the city for the water to run. look at all the space saved can be used for actually something good capping could put hole h.way overtop of that river. . silly not too

[@AMPProf]

IF ALL THE SEAS WERE INK

[@eli1000fer]

17:27 *engineering an entire building to waterproof the first floor with watertight doors and reinforced windows* Andrew Lam: "small details"

[@Lam]

For this video haha

[@chenisikymoh]

you make me think of how to solve the water flood problem in China , don't buy and use any property under 2 stories and get a boat

[@wassupcuhwatchumeancuh]

small things

[@mmp0625]

I’m a civil engineer specialized in water resources and you did a fantastic job making such critical (yet mundane) infrastructure very interesting. Also great to see the actual manning’s equation when discussing open channel flow. Great work! I will definitely be subscribing.

[@Lam]

Wow, thank you so much!

[@BestMods168]

🤡

[@zenlei8258]

@@Lam It is better to build a few man made lakes to store heavy rain fall. Then release the water gradually after the rains become less.

[@PureMagma]

​@@zenlei8258in an ideal world this would be true, but in heavily populated areas where "minimal planning" occurred & prevailed for over 100 years... lakes don't adequately protect the water reserves. More specifically, man-made lakes do not protect the costs that have been expended to capture and direct storm waters. Like this video explains "money and space" are the most important concerns for successful water retention in densely populated areas.

[@zenlei8258]

@@PureMagma Some China lakes is doing this job. The man made lakes have very less water by pumping water out during dry season. During heavy rain fall the lakes will store this excess water temporarily. So less water flow into to residents area and flood can be avoided. It work all the time with proper planning.

[@erictaylor5462]

10:40 In the Early 1980's there was a huge flood in my home town. A few years later I became friends with another kid who had been crossing a flooded street. He turned his head for a second and when he looked back his friend was gone. The water was a bit less than knee deep but it was muddy so the road was not visible under the water. He thought his friend had just tripped and expected him to pop up in a second, when that didn't help he started to get worried and started walking around where his friend had been when he nearly fell into an open manhole. He called for help but this storm drain flowed directly into the bay and there was very little hope. They never did find a body. He said it was weird how you can be talking to someone one minute and the next they are just gone. There was no splash no cry of alarm, his friend was just gone. After this the city started welding the man hole covers on. Not so strongly they could not be opened, but enough that the water could not blow them open in a flood.

[@chenisikymoh]

should people re design the manhole come with self lockage ?

[@ChesterSam89]

Easily the best video on stormwater infrastructure I’ve ever seen. You really made a boring topic EXTREMELY interesting. Shoutout to all civil engineers that do amazing work that nobody takes the time to appreciate.

[@Lam]

Wow, thank you so much. I tried my best to help transform the way they see the world around them. Hopefully they can now see what's been done

[@ethanma1722]

The production value on this is incredible. You strike a rare balance of both teaching me new things and also making a palatable video that I can watch while eating lunch. Keep it up bro

[@Lam]

Really appreciate your comment! Getting the balance right for the story was really hard. Glad it paid off and made it a fun watch for you!

[@cbsGD]

🙏

[@liquidmakor6793]

im literally eating lunch while watching this. And replying this comment

[@nickkk420]

It's true, very well struck balance

[@lucasfontainha9053]

you stole my words!!

[@teamcybr8375]

I really hope all of those "I would need a full video to explain" bits turn into their own videos! I'm definitely interested to learn more about these projects!!

[@Lam]

Oh they're very much a possibility. The sewer one especially as I have a lot the research down but it seems like a big video.

[@riba2233]

Oh boy I thought this channel was dead, glad to see you back!

[@Lam]

I'm alive, it just took a stupid amount of time to produce this video! Thanks for coming back and watching!

[@riba2233]

@@Lam yeah I can imagine, thanks :)

[@gradientO]

Takes time to produce such high quality videos. I'll wait

[@Dgunztube]

@@Lamplease keep it up.

[@LongIslandCityLayout]

Nah he’s definitely alive. His videos are super high-quality and he probably has a full time job outside of KZbin.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Underrated af. This video shows the shift in the philosophy of stormwater management, from making the problem go away as fast as possible (conveyance), to holding them in place for as long as possible and not let it be a bigger problem down the line (retention). Interesting thing about Tokyo and storm management is that it goes back to the Tokugawa Shogunate period. Edo is very flat and prone to flooding and as such the shoguns started flood mitigation efforts even during the Closed Doors period. They rerouted the most of the flow of the upstream rivers into Tone River, and in part making it the longest river in Japan. Then in the Imperial era giant bypass channels with giant floodplains were constructed, which uprooted quite a bit of homes. Not to mention dams.

[@Lam]

Wow, thanks for the kind words and the added comment about the history. I didn't know that and I might cover tokyo and flooding in the future.

[@delcogoblin]

I knew you were going to talk about Philadelphia at some point. The city and its largest neighboring county, Delco, are both BELOW sea level and adjacent to the Delaware River. We've had heavy flooding in the past but it has improved significantly over the years. During hurricane Sandy the only thing preventing my house from being swept away was the genius engineering of the river right behind my property. I remember right after the storm sitting at the edge watching the water speed past what must have been over 30 miles an hour. In Ridley Park there is a gigantic recreational field called the "Hollow" that sits in a massive valley, with a small river at its bottom. Back in the 90s, according to my parents, the entire park used to be a lake. Now it's part of the genius engineering that keeps the area dry.

[@Lam]

Wow, thank you for sharing that anecdote with me! I'm going to look up that right now

[@delcogoblin]

@@Lam sure thing! Just a quick correction on my part, the valley is located in "Prospect Park, PA" and officially is called "Moore's lake park". Right next to Ridley so I got it a bit mixed up.

[@filanfyretracker]

Philly had the vine street expressway fill up in 2021 I think it was. While that was due to lack of working pumps I do wonder if it partially saved the neighborhood from filled up basements. Philly also has that river nobody can spell without using Google, which is funny because its pronounced like Google. Fortunately all my area in SNJ got during Ida was an EF-3 tornado.

[@Gekkco]

I lived in Philadelphia for 21 years now and we rarely deal with flooding

[@Gekkco]

@@filanfyretracker the highway got flooded for a totally different reason, bro whats with the misinformation

[@FordPrefect6x7]

Another awesome video Andrew! Thanks!

[@Lam]

Wow, thank you, really appreciated! I'll try to keep making content you like in the future!

[@RazzaDazza0]

Truly amazing the amount of time you dedicated to this is incredible. I also loved your detailed animations and even quick but still visible mathematical explanations. You also gave me some really cool japan visit ideas once I eventually can do that. I might suggest in the future though that maybe you try to collaborate with other creators to save you time on your hard work. I could see that you looked at practical engineering's video but maybe it might be a good idea for you to reach out for experts to explain topics to you instead of trying to understand it by reading (and losing those 8 hours for the math part/animation and everything). That hard work definitely paid off in the quality of this video just an idea to try to save you time but it's not necessary if you can't or prefer not to make your videos that way.

[@Lam]

Hey Shockwire, really appreciate the kind words and the advice! Without a doubt growing my team in the future is important. The research process is far too laborious and a lot of it is me getting in my own way. I do know how to better streamline it and asking for helping will be something I do more of in the future. Part of me though and what drives this channel is that I love figuring stuff out on my own. Hope you get to go to Japan!

[@RazzaDazza0]

@@Lam Thanks for the reply I hope you are able to build that team because considering you did this with a smaller team and the quality is already so amazing I'm sure once you are able to save yourself more time your content will just get even better.

[@RubzNotNice]

Excellent video! Came here from reddit where someone suggested your video (from a flashback post of Hurricane Hazel) I just finished watching your car safety video and that was great too. Definitely sub'd - keep it up - looking forward to more informative videos!

[@Lam]

Thanks Rubz! I'm pretty sure I saw that Reddit post. r/Toronto right? I replied in there's as well. Thanks for enjoying my content. I definitely will be making more engineering focused videos in the future. I just want to nail down my own unique angle on those.

[@arthurgu3800]

Just realized I forgot to leave a super thanks for this video. Now rectifying this error.

[@RichTCS]

Shout out to the Manning Formula! As a young civil engineer 35 years ago, I was given a circular slide rule that was based on the Manning equation and it was so intuitive to properly size storm pipes - and is just as handy today even with the proliferation of computer software.

[@bobloblaw10001]

Mannings formula is not sufficient in most cases. To do things right you also need to consider inlet and outlet control. I have found that most general civil engineers forget this in practice.

[@aaronTNGDS9]

Excellent presentation. The ability of humans to come up with engineering solutions like sewer systems is a testament to the wonders of the human mind and how humans can safely modify the environment when done properly and with forethought.

[@GCEism]

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and early last year we had some of the worst flooding in the cities history. This video was so fascinating to see the ways other cities have adopted strategies to cope with increased rainfall due to climate change. I hope Auckland can take some ideas and create better infrastructure to fix it!

[@jiecut]

Amazing, this video was crammed with information density. So many different examples and diagram. Really using the visual medium. Had to slow it down to 1x speed.

[@Lam]

Thanks for appreciating! It's my philosophy, if it's not visual you might as well write an article.

[@jamiewebb5580]

Clicked on this video out of sheer boredom. Never seen any of your content. From the forst moment it held my attention and taught me so much brother. Thank you.

[@Lam]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the kind words!

[@Blex_040]

I'm here from Tom Scott's newsletter, and I'm so so glad he linked this because this is the awesome content I'm always looking for :D It kinda reminds me of The B1M!

[@Lam]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@philss77]

This video is extremely valuable for us here in Brazil 🇧🇷 . We faced the most devastating flood ever in the south of the country, and I believe events like these (heavy rains) are going to be more common. Thank you for your research and work!

[@aritin5259]

Great video as always! I’m from the Philippines, so sadly floods still cause many casualties here, which sucks considering we can experience 20+ typhoons yearly. I hope this type of technology would reach us!

[@icanflyfaraway]

i'm from the Philippines too, It is upsetting that every homeowners and landowners wants to pour concrete on everything.

[@Fladrif]

Awesome as always!

[@Lam]

Wow thanks! Appreciate the donation and for being a long time sub of the channel Fladrif! I hope I keep making stuff you like.

[@_Davy_]

These videos are great and all, but what's the best budget dashcam for 2023? All joking aside, these videos are extremely interesting. Can't wait for the next one in a year.

[@Lam]

I haven't looked at dashcams in a while

[@benashcroft4104]

One of my favorite parts of living in Arizona is that it's such a dry place, but we care so intensely about water and have such random massive rainstorms that we have retention areas EVERYWHERE, flooding and water damage in the valley is basically not a worry despite the seeming problems of such rare storms

[@Xel_Naga]

8:10 its actually called a "fluvial point bar" water slows depositing sediment creating the point not a peninsula :D and the direct other side of the point bar is the "thalweg" where the water is moving fastest eroding the river back. Excellent summary of Flood mitigation

[@Lam]

Excellent, that is good to know! Sometimes I can only dive so deep on a topic so it's nice knowing the proper name

[@8.bit_gun340]

18:24 that mirrors edge nostalgia never hit so hard.

[@Metroshica]

This video is absolutely amazing. I really hope the algorithm picks this up. You obviously put a lot of effort into this and it really deserves a larger audience.

[@Lam]

I hope it does too!

[@brunompdt12345]

I never thought I would be so interested in watching these videos, even less expect to click on one like this. But yet, here I am watching this video as I eat, and I definitely do not regret doing so. Awesome video, man! I really enjoyed this. You just earned a like and a new subscriber. Thanks!

[@Agleamsnow]

Thank you for the effort you put into these videos, the quality is insanly good!

[@Lam]

Thank you for enjoying it and I appreciate the compliment!

[@quincymiller3639]

I’m really happy I ran into this video, I’m interning with a city this summer and was doing work in one of these just a few days ago, the coolest part that I noticed when looking at the one within my city was the “grit chambers”. These chambers are at the inlets and allow for the sediment to settle in the camber instead of in retention pond area. These chambers are also used throughout the whole city to keep sediment from going into lakes and rivers.

[@204Fozzy]

You should talk about the Red River Flood Way in Winnipeg. Lots of history in that.

[@Ilia_Karamfilov]

20:50 My town won't go either direction. It will become a lake itself

[@FluffyFoxUwU]

hmmm so floating cities? thats potential fix, just ride on the waters dont directly dealing with it even if the whole globe turn into a gigantic sea your town still float while the rest become underwater cities as their flood control system overloaded lol

[@collinstv3125]

This is an eye-opening look into the effects of better planning. This makes me appreciate what other cities hae done to make the lives of their citizens better. Right now it's raining like hell in Nairobi, Kenya and there is no planning for our city. Infrastructure has been destroyed, lives lost, disaster management is in shambles and nobody gives a duck.

[@indiver716]

Awesome to see different systems “in-person”. High quality content.

[@Ayaya787]

Fire vid! Hope this channel blows up :)

[@Lam]

Thanks for the support and I hope so too!

[@Arachnid-Man]

Bro talked about water management without mentioning The Netherlands! Crazy!.

[@JTCF]

Oh wow, it was so cool to randomly find the inspiration for the Storm Drain location from Mirror's Edge!

[@warpedfusion]

This is the first video I have seen of yours and I am incredibly impressed! The presentation rivals TV shows but it leaves the corny, corporate feel behind. I know it probably took an incredible amount of time and effort to make this video and I wanted to let you know that i think it really paid off!

[@Lam]

Thanks! Really appreciate it

[@TheSaltyAdmiral]

1:04 Woah, that painting with the rain effects over it looked amazing!

[@DrewK971]

Andrew youre gonna blow up with this format, keep up the great work

[@Lam]

Thanks Drew!

[@givepassword]

Great video! It’s disappointing to see the video doing so poorly, KZbin needs more content creators like you! You’re one of only a handful of creators I have notifications on for.

[@Lam]

Thanks for being a big fan of the channel! I appreciate the support! Sometimes takes a few days for the video to pick up

[@Blex_040]

It might get a second spring because it's linked first thing in Tom Scott's newsletter this week :D

[@JohnSmith-me4ik]

Superb video. Deserves way more views

[@TDChannelKSP]

These videos are always super interesting to watch, can't wait to watch this one,

[@coverfish4672]

Wow, this video was better than any documentary on tv. For real

[@MattSeremet]

Fascinating video! And great production values all around. The giant storm tunnels in my city are occasionally visited by kayakers. Though I've read some scolding comments from engineers that warn it's dangerous. Me, I just walk a few hundred meters in and back to admire the graffiti.

[@jdub7775]

I live in Philadelphia and had no idea we had this infrastructure for rain! This is absolutely amazing! I appreciate Philly a whole lot better! Thank you for the video!

[@yourikersten8243]

Im shocked to see your subscribers count being under million. The high quality videos deserve more, keep up the good work

[@lllleeeeiiii]

This is a rare occasion where i decided to subscribe after just 1 video. Hope this video gets more impression and feel like a start to something special

[@Lam]

Thanks! That means a lot!

[@Chivvy695]

Things you learn. I always thought the local park just flooded due to poor drainage without realize that it was flood control at work. Great video.

[@diceLibrarian]

I'm proud to be a native to the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. Unfortunately I live in a floodplain.

[@albertwoods2425]

Great video but is the rain a CGI effect?? 0:09

[@wipvanrinkle8525]

Fascinating how simple geometry configurations make the natural flow of water more manageble and efficient

[@patrickl9930]

Love the effort you put into production and scripting. I know how much work it is to juggle life and creative outputs like this - excited for your next one, no rush :)

[@Lam]

Thanks Patrick!

[@FirstLast-kz9ub]

Awesome video, happy to wait for as long as is needed with anticipation for the next one!

[@Lam]

Thanks! Hopefully next one will be faster!

[@qbmac2306]

You know what they say, It's Always Spongy in Philadelphia.

[@JacobVanBuren]

How are you not at a million subscribers? The presentation is immaculate and the topic is really interesting!

[@Lam]

I need to release more videos haha. Thanks Jacob

[@cartergonzalez3769]

Currently studying environmental engineering, this is exactly the sort of thing I want to work on. Also, Great job visualizing and explaining Manning's Equation.

[@Lam]

Awesome, thanks for the kind words and I'm glad I did the equation justice. Took me a while to think about deconstructing hydraulic radius into simple language

[@Stroporez]

Seriously, this is one of the best videos I saw on KZbin. Maybe I'm biased because I live in Toronto. This is an amazing work nevertheless.

[@NineBang3r]

The whole city can flood but please leave the football field alone😭

[@MrTrevortxeartxe]

This is such a great video! I knew that a lot of engineering goes into urban design to mitigate flooding, but I had _no idea_ the extent to which it was implemented, especially in the world's biggest cities! Thank you for explaining so thoroughly. Looking forward to more content!

[@praveenb9048]

Tom Scott, but with more substantial information.

[@danieljust2226]

Incredible,Incredible,Incredible,Incredible video. 5/5 100% - Thought provoking, technical, visual, digestible. Thank you!

[@20chocsaday]

I wish they would stop building, and buying, houses on flood plains in England.

[@smolpener7430]

How arrogant we are to go to a place for its prolific rains, just to decide the very reason we congregate is a problem to be dealt with, and how stupid we are to not see those "solutions" as the problem they are.

[@banalMinuta]

This is awesome man, I'm glad that traffic video blew up, this channel is like a breath of fresh air. The breadth is impressive. The production quality is near impeccable. I can imagine this was a labor of love, and it shows in the final product.

[@Lam]

Thanks for appreciating, it was a labor of love, so many times I could have taken shortcuts

[@SeanAubin]

This is the best KZbin video I've seen in the last 6 months! So informative and insightful! The narrative and its presentation really helped my understanding compared to trawling Wikipedia.

[@Matty002]

imagine if we built up instead of out, and left large pieces of land around buildings natural? we could even call this kind of development something specific 🤔

[@dc2guy2]

What I found most amazing about ShinYokohama park/Nissan Stadium area was the lack of parking lots. If it were in North America you can guarantee the parking lot area would be at least 5 times bigger than the sports complex itself 😅 😭*cries in American*

[@billcounterstrike]

It's been a while but you're finally back!

[@Lam]

Good to be back! It took waaay to long to make this video! Thanks for sticking around!

[@rakib9039]

I love this type of videos

[@YangLeee]

I love your videos. Complete switch from old content, but still amazing. Thank you.

[@billymanilli]

Just imagine all of the amazing sights and wonders that poops get to see and experience both under and above the ground on their journey to the sea! ngl... I'm kinda jealous.. I want to send a small gopro with one of them some day to hopefully catch a glimpse of what they see.

[@justaguyfromreddit]

Great video! I'm quite surprised chicago Water Management wasn't mentioned tho

[@Lam]

Every city wants their pound of flesh 😄

[@Sandi_shores_lands_fish]

Ah foghedaboid it

[@RoNiminal]

YES, Andrew!! This is top-notch content! Loooove seeing this channel getting better with each video! 👌🏼💪🏼 Edit: Thank you for staying safe @ 7:20! We need you for more educational videos 😅❤

[@TexMarque]

Straightening streams out is counter productive. By increasing velocity, it increases erosion, lower Mississippi river as an example. Widening the associated floodplain is paramount to improving flood control with other shown measures is effective. Great video!

[@dariadavay]

wow the production quality on this is incredible! very inspiring 🙌

[@yemreikiz]

Great work Andrew! Much appreciated.

[@aarong5996]

I love your videos, they're all so technical and interesting. Well researched and enjoyable, keep it up!.

[@JoshF710]

This was great. Well worth the wait. Look forward to the next one.

[@ruangoto]

KZbin brought you back to my home and wow your videos are always excellent!

[@ptx172]

Damn...this is a very high quality video I ever watch. We need to support this channel. I am speechless .... I just bow my head to you. From history to design to animation to story telling it takes this a lot of time to make a high quality video.

[@S1lva139]

i can not express how much i love these types of videos and how fasinating they are. keep up the good work man looking forward to the next.

[@Lam]

Thanks, will do!

[@g-rated-g]

What an informative and indepth look into this topic. Would like to see more on this, maybe with a collab from one of the folks you mentioned

[@richdobbs6595]

Thanks. In a development that is happening in my town, they were putting in those brightly covered archs, and then covering them up. I couldn't find anything that described their purposes. But now it is clear that they were one of the underground infiltration systems that you showed.

[@chesterfieldjones1055]

That was fantastic. I'm glad I found you, tdotter. You have a new subscriber.

[@SteveWhisenhant]

One of the most compelling engineering explainer vids I've seen in a long time. Please keep it up!

[@bobloblaw10001]

Compelling but amateurish

[@redviper7192]

You put so much effort and extremely captivating and good editing. My favorite informational channel by far. Keep it up!

[@Lam]

Wow, thanks! Really appreciate it!

[@dm91214]

Such a well done video with high production value. Thank you!!

[@fresusjeak]

Great video; the editing, and I appreciate the location shots very much.

[@brentccochran123]

Brilliant job Andrew! You must have spent endless time making this video. It’s a benchmark!! Please keep making more videos!

[@georgenorris2657]

Really fascinating. I hope all city planners watch your video.

[@McFlyOrPie]

Across the street from my parents house, is a retention pond. Back in the 90's when I was a kid, every once in a while I would see it actually fill up. Granted, we lived at the top of the hill. But now I know exactly what it was for. Thank you. Now that I think of it, there are 4 of them. One at the top by my parents. One just down the hill. Then, two more at the very bottom of the hill, that drain into the creek, that leads to the park at the bottom of the valley, that always gets extra swampy after it rains. They aren't the most pleasant things to look at, but they do their jobs well. There's rarely any really bad problems with flooding in that area. #InfrastructureNerd #RunAlongSentences

[@gaveintothedarkness]

great video! The humour sprinkled through the video was an excellent touch!

[@Tuberuser187]

Its always great to find a new infrastructure and civil engineering "channel" (badum tish), instant sub.

[@shirishthakare9842]

Love you buddy. These r called holding ponds. Much needed in cities. It gives confidence too. city has water reserve within city to use in shortage.

[@arungowtham8473]

Great video, Andrew! I'm in the municipal Asset Management sector and the content you show is very informative with graphics & humor. Have lived in Philly & now live in Toronto, I've been to places in this video but never knew its secrets. Thanks for sharing this. Keep up!

[@MB3-ie]

Great video Andrew, I love it, Very thoughtful video. Keep it up man

[@MrAP991]

First time viewer here but you earned the sub. Amazing video Andrew!

[@benv6502]

I never comment, but just wanted to say you make great videos. Please keep it up, once you have a solid back catalogue I can see you being a top channel.

[@Lam]

Thanks! appreciate that!