Big Bags USA

Image from http://www.nytimes.com The Netherlands - Centuries of Flood Prevention The Big Bags USA team came across a very interesting NY Times article from November of 2012 and we wanted to share some highlights.  The Netherlands is one of the most flood prone countries in the world and the Dutch can offer some valuable lessons and insight for flood prevention in the USA. Radical reshaping of American Flood response needed As stated in the article, the Dutch "“way of thinking is completely different from the U.S.,” where disaster relief generally takes precedence over disaster avoidance, said Wim Kuijken, the Dutch government’s senior official for overall water control policy. “The U.S. is excellent at disaster management,” but “working to avoid disaster is completely different from working after a disaster.” While no hurricanes strike the Netherlands, ferocious storms do, and for centuries the Dutch have held back water with 50,000 miles of dikes. Two-thirds of the...

Prepare your community for the next flooding event Community leaders along with state and county planners have a challenging task preparing to protect their people from natural disasters.  Flooding is by far the most common and damaging event to property and lives for many localities.  Community leaders also struggle with getting the most out of their budgets and often focus on reacting to natural disasters versus preparing for the next one. By preparing and stockpiling supplies to deal with the next flood, lives can be saved, property damage greatly reduced, and tax payer money saved. Traditional sandbags = huge cost in time and money Flood ridden communities have traditionally relied on the sandbag to keep flood waters at bay.  Sand bagging is extremely time consuming and building walls of sandbags require huge amounts of manpower.  Sand bags can be very hard to deploy and redeploy, can rip easily, and may not keep water out of areas that have corners o...

Prepare for the next flood now Many communities who believed they were prepared for flooding often find out after the water hits that they were not as prepared as they thought.  Community leaders are often overwhelmed by the scale of the flood and the impact on lives and property.  By the time state or federal relief efforts arrive, it's often too late to make a big difference in the relief effort. There are some wonderful tools available to help community leaders prepare for the next flooding event.  One great resource can be found at http://www.ready.gov/community-preparedness-toolkit .  "The Community Preparedness Toolkit provides step-by-step directions along with useful resources for making your community, safer, more resilient, and better prepared. The Community Preparedness Toolkit can be used to develop a community-based approach to preparedness, such as a Citizen Corps Council. Citizen Corps is FEMA's grassroots strategy to bring together gove...

Big Bags USA can protect your job site Typically, the Big Bags USA system is brought in when a flood is imminent and protecting lives and property is paramount.  For companies that are conducting long term construction or another long term job, setting the Big Bags USA system in place around the job site will give you the piece of mind that you are protected from flooding at anytime.  You will be assured that your equipment and construction will be safe! Protect your job site from flooding Core Capabilities of the Big Bags USA System Having the Big Bags USA system available for your long term job will allow you: Rapid deployed flood barrier Easy to place coffer dam Stream direction Erosion Control Coastal Erosion Control Blast Barriers for military use Mudslide barriers Levee toppers Above ground water containment Secondary containment barrier for oil spills or hazardous spills Strategic planning Call Big Bags USA! ...