Zipping Right Along
Like most reporters, I've covered lots of floods, and have watched as it takes lots of people to fill lots of sand bags. This scramble to save a town or community is almost always under the pressure of a hydrological prediction when the river will crest in a specific place.
I love high tech stuff...but sometimes new solutions come in relatively low tech packages.
This morning I watched as about 15 city employees from Mount Vernon set up 15-hundred feet of flood "fence" in just a matter of a few hours. In about 20 minutes they covered a city block. Amazing.
In 1999 a Norwegian company came up with the idea of taking water resistant plywood, hinging them together in sections, then tying the sections together with rubberized fabric. It's quickly bolted to a slot in the street, with a rubber seal between the fence and the concrete. It's called the Aqua Fence, and Mount Vernon is the first community to buy it in the United States.
Today's was just a test, Mount Vernon will use sandbags at least one more time in a real flood to make sure the Aqua Fence delivers as promised. No electronics were required, there's nothing to short out.