Flood Barrier USA

Why Sandbags Don’t Work

Author: Flood Expert Donna Conneely

At first glance, sandbags may seem to be an economical method of flood protection. After all, empty sandbags can be purchased for as little as eighteen cents each. But buying the sandbags is the easy part; that is, unless you try to buy them during a major rainfall event, in which case you will find that sandbags are very hard to come by!

But let’s say that you have thought ahead and have purchased lots of empty sandbags well ahead of the rest of the crowd. Now you have to fill those sandbags with sand or soil … and remember — you will most likely be doing this during a torrential downpour.

Now picture to yourself the herculean efforts required to fill those sandbags. First of all, where do you get the sand? Sure, there is sand at the beach or down by the river, but how to get it back to your house or business? Let’s remember: rivers and beaches are not safe places during flood events.

Some municipalities deliver mounds of sand by truck to flood-threatened areas. So now all you have to do is walk to the mound, fill your bags — one by one — and lug them back to your business. Even if every employee in your business lends a hand, the sheer number of bags needed will daunt even the most dedicated staff. And what happens if one of those employees gets hurt during this exercise in futility?

The use of sandbags is almost always futile. For one thing, they are often deployed too late — that is, during the flood. Who can say when a flood will occur? Most business owners start filling those sandbags when they see water lapping over the threshold. By then it is too late.

Another problem is that sandbags usually fail. The water seeps under and even through the bags, especially if the bags are filled with soil composed of small particles. These small particles escape through the seams of the bags and start a siphoning movement that pulls more and more water through the bags. How many times have you seen TV news footage that shows a despondent business owner trying to sweep out water that has entered right through the sandbags?

Perhaps your sandbags did help a little at keeping out the water. It was not exactly state-of-the-art flood protection, but it was better than nothing. Now the flood has receded and everyone is in clean-up mode. At this point, all those sandbags that you filled and stacked around the business must come down. The soil must be removed and the bags stored for another rainy day.

Not so fast! The water that inundated your business was almost certainly polluted by raw sewage, industrial runoff, and other harmful substances. All those sandbags are now considered hazardous materials, and must be treated as such. All of it — the soil as well as the bags — must be disposed of properly at a special landfill. The bags can never be used again. Workers handling the bags must wear protective gear.

Still think sandbags are a cost-effective method of flood protection? I didn’t think so.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 19th, 2012 at 10:08 am and is filed under Flood Protection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.