Province Testing Portable Dikes
By 250 News
Loader filling new portable dikes in Mission --photo courtesy of BC Government
B.C. Minister of Public Safety, John Les, has announced the government has purchased a new portable diking system for a price tag of $840-thousand dollars.
Les says the province now owns seven-kilometres of the portable system -- called "Gabion baskets"-- which can be divied up between communities facing the threat of flooding. Gabions are described as "a quick-diking system that uses foldable wire-mesh containers five metres long, one metre deep, and one metre wide."
The Public Safety Minister says they can be rushed into trouble spots and rapidly filled with sand using a front-end loader (as shown in the picture above), meaning they can be put in place much faster than sandbags and berms.
The diking system is currently being used in Mission and has also been deployed to Kamloops to be available for emergency use.
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There are other methods which are lighter and reusable. Just store in emergency sheds in regions where they may be needed.
Lightweight, portable system can be put up much more quickly than sandbags and no heavy equipment needed other than trucks.
http://www.palletbarrier.com/old/gbaquabarrier.shtml
http://rs-stepanek.com/aquabarrier/aquabarrier.htm#paletten
http://www.hochwasser.de/index.php?id=317
A permanent wall that acts as a fence at the same time. Top part is glass.
http://www.hochwasserinfo-koeln.de/images/baul_07_06/4_glaswaende_jugendhaus.jpg
Sheet piles being driven as a permanent dike
http://www.hochwasserinfo-koeln.de/images/baul_07_06/PFA2.JPG
Then there is the combination of permanent (foundation) plus portable (add on at time of flood warnings) Very high tech with little change to appearances of the local landscape. Lightweight and quickly erected. Horizontal members can be added based on the predicted flood crest.
http://www.hochwasserschutz.de/en/produktbereiche/hochwasserschutz-mobile-waende_2210005.php
A combination approach is usually the best.