Background information

Currently, there are two views about dealing with flooding:

• Resilience - let the water in but ensure the property is capable of being made habitable again very quickly, or
• Resistance - not letting it in, in the first place!

It is fair to say that HiBar is very firmly in the second camp. We feel that most property occupiers or owners do not want the inconvenience of moving out at all, let alone have the thought of what the floodwaters have carried in, such as raw sewerage, vermin and other chemical contaminants (e.g. diesel and petrol from flooded vehicles and filling stations).

It is this contamination aspect that has led to some householders not being allowed back into their houses for up to 18 months (Carlisle in 2004 and Tewkesbury in 2007). Some were in Bed & Breakfast accommodation - some in caravans in the front gardens - neither was an attractive alternative.

A little known fact is that due to such contamination risk, sandbags should only be used once, and then should be put into landfill sites, but how many times do we see piles of them stacked neatly against a gatepost for use time and time again. They become home to an ever-accumulating cocktail of toxins and bacteria, ready to be swilled out at the next flood.

Door/window panels and airbrick covers are readily available and seen as a cheap protection, but these rely upon the waterproof and strength qualities of the surrounding brickwork. Water under pressure does not need a very big crack to find its way into a property.

Finally, demountable systems that are set away from the property, notably the pallet barrier system have been employed successfully in Ironbridge (2004) and partially at Worcester and Upton on Severn. The latter two had incidents of the barrier being circumvented and (in the case of Upton in 2007) not being able to be transported to the site in time, due to flooded access roads!