🌪️ Storm and Flood Preparedness for Apiaries

About this simulation

Extreme weather is one of the fastest ways to lose colonies: gale-force gusts can topple hives or blow lids clean off, and rising floodwater can drown a colony that sits too close to the ground. This yard models the two threats side by side so you can see how basic preparedness measures — tie-down straps, raised stands and a windbreak — change the outcome.

How it works

• Hive lean angle — rises with wind speed. Straps and a windbreak both cut the lean; an unstrapped hive in the open can tip past its stable limit.
• Lid status — above a wind threshold an unstrapped roof lifts and slides; strapped roofs stay put regardless of gust strength.
• Flood clearance — the gap between the floodwater surface and the base of the brood box. Once water reaches the entrance the colony is at drowning risk, and negative clearance floats the whole stack.
• The risk badge combines both hazards into a single Safe / Caution / Danger read-out.

Controls

• Wind speed — sustained gust speed hitting the apiary (0–30 m/s, roughly calm to severe storm force).
• Floodwater level — height of standing water across the yard (0–180cm).
• Hive stand height — how far the hive floor sits above bare ground (10–90cm).
• Tie-down straps — ratchet straps holding the supers and roof to the floor and to ground anchors.
• Windbreak barrier — a slatted fence or hedge on the windward side that breaks gust force before it reaches the hives.
• ↺ Reset weather — returns all controls to their default values. Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom.

Did you know?

UK beekeeping guidance commonly recommends siting apiaries at least 300mm above the highest recorded local flood level and strapping hives before any forecast gust above roughly 25 mph (about 11 m/s) — well below full storm force.