Exit Sandman

11 June 2010

With a cheaper, easier, lighter, faster, re-usable alternative to sandbags now available in Australia - could this be the beginning of the end of sandbagging?

Australia's Flooding Solutions Advisory Group has been appointed national distributor of 'Floodstop' the innovative British-designed flood prevention and mitigation system which is now widely used across the UK.

The Floodstop system was last year named ‘Most Innovative Product of the Year' by Britain's Emergency Planning Society and Floodstop systems have been purchased by councils, emergency action groups and The Environment Agency.

Importantly, Floodstop's multiple uses mean that its costs and application can be shared between corporate or government entities and departments. When not in use as a flood barrier the system can serve for road traffic delineation, fluids containment or as a spill barrier.

Floodstop consists of a series of interconnecting pods, available in either 0.5m or 0.9m heights, where the pods are automatically filled by rising floodwaters. The weight of the water filled pods compresses a unique foam gasket base to create a seal with the ground. When floodwaters recede, the pods empty automatically.

The 0.5m high pods weigh just 12kg, so are easily deployed by one person, while the larger 0.9m high pods weigh 22kg and are best deployed by two people working together. Case studies in the UK have shown that two people can deploy 180m of Floodstop in just 90 minutes.

Floodstop was designed and created by UK company Fluvial Innovations, introduced to the Australian market by UK Trade & Investment, the British Government's trade and development arm, and is now distributed by Flooding Solutions Advisory Group, Australia's pre-eminent designer, manufacturer and distributor of flood mitigation devices and equipment.

According to Flooding Solutions Advisory Group Director Keith Jackson, the Floodstop solution means an end to the ubiquitous sandbag.

"It takes 50 sand bags to provide a 0.6m high barrier of one metre in length," Mr Jackson said. "When you consider the cost of non-reusable bags, and sand, plus the time involved in delivering, filling and placing sand bags, the reusable Floodstop pod system is a much smarter solution – logistically and financially."

Floodstop barriers cost about $400 to $700 per metre depending on height and are suitable to be used for: flash flooding; coastal flooding; pluvial and fluvial flooding; water/fluid containment; fluid spills (oil, tanker spills on road networks) and even suitable for use by fire services as a cylinder cooling bund.

For more information about Floodstop and to see it in action go to http://www.fluvial-innovations.co.uk/

To order Floodstop barriers in Australia, contact: Keith Jackson, keith@floodingsolutions.com.au