Dothan, Alabama has been experiencing heavy rain and thunderstorms over the past several weeks and one such storm resulted in the washout of a large roadside berm that acted as a dam at the southern end of the Spann Home Development. A city official contacted Fire Chief Williams to inquire about obtaining sandbags to help divert the water away from the washed-out area. Chief Williams responded by offering their 100-foot-long Flood Safe® unit manufactured by Advanced Coastal Technologies, LLC of Dothan, Alabama. Six firemen from the Dothan (AL) Fire Department responded to the request with their Flood Safe® unit and had it positioned in fifteen minutes. The Wicksburg (AL) Fire Department responded with a 4,000-gallon tanker and filled the Flood Safe® with water. They could have used the lake water, but choose to go with cleaner water, as the Flood Safe® unit is totally reusable. Once filled, the weight of the water and the footprint on the ground creates a seal that diverts the water around the tube. The double tube design offers good stability. This entire set up and fill was done in less than forty five minutes. The same application using sand bags would have required additional labor and taken hours to place and stack.
Captain Danny Appling, Fire Marshall for the City of Dothan said, “The Flood Safe® device was an asset to us and the city. The diversion created by the tubes would have helped protect part of an entire neighborhood on the other side of the dam. It also helped us maintain access to several more very large homes across the dam. If the device had been deployed before the overflow, I believe the dam would have suffered far less damage and the roadway would have remained completely passable.”
For more information on Advanced Coastal Technologies, LLC and the products that they offer, please visit the website at: www.advancedcoastaltechnologies.com or call 1-(877)-439-4228; FAX: 334-793-1707
