Officials praise use of special barrier that protected fire station, hospital from flooding during Helene
BRADENTON, Fla. (WFLA) — As residents continue cleaning up after Hurricane Helene, state officials are praising the use of a special barrier that protected a fire station and hospital from flood damage.
Gov. Ron DeSantis was speaking at Manatee Memorial Hospital Monday. He said there are ways to mitigate flooding from major storms.
"If you had the Tiger Dams in some of these areas that are low lying, like we were in Pasco right on the water, the water went up three, four feet. You have the Tiger Dam and you don't get any intrusion into your home or very minima. That is a huge huge difference," DeSantis said.
Tiger Dams are inflatable barriers that are filled with water to fight off water. The Governor said they could work for residential homes as well.
Geri Pasquarella lives near the hospital, and her home flooded during Helene. She wants the county government to get these barriers into the community.
"They should, they know dangerous neighborhood, they know which ones that keep flooding," Pasquarella said.
U.S. Flood Control makes Tiger Dams. Paul Vickers is the President of the company. He said they are the largest distributor of Tiger Dams in the world. Vickers encourages residents to ask their county government and Emergency Operations Centers to get their dams or ones similar.
He was asked if Tiger Dams would've helped in the record feet of storm surge seen in the area.
"I don't know exactly how it went, but in many cases we can definitely stop or redirect at the very least, many flood waters coming in in hurricanes," Vickers said. "Storm surge is so powerful it's so dangerous, our Tiger Dams can be stacked to 32 feet high. That's a lot of pressure on them, that's why we build in a pyramid shape, we anchor them in, and engineer them into place."
Vickers said depending on the height and distance, the dams range from $1,000 to $5,000. They go as long as 50 feet to 50 miles.
They can be individually installed and purchased online. Vickers recommends getting pumps to get rid of rainfall on the inside of what the barrier blocks off. The dams are reusable and guaranteed for 15 years.
Michael Scuiga showed News Channel 8 the barriers at the fire station from his ring door bell camera. He said he saw 14 inches of water outside his door.
"If I had barriers all the way around the house there would not have been a drop of water in here," Scuiga said.
Memorial Hospital said they used the barriers during Hurricane Irma, and the Executive Director of Florida's Emergency Management Division said they were the first to use it.
"We have over 7 miles of this sitting on the shelves in our central warehouse in Orlando," Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie.
Counties reached out the them for the barriers. Scuiga said they would have helped his neighborhood.
"If I had known of someplace a day or two ahead of time and gotten 300 feet for a very low cost or no cost I absolutely would've done it," Scuiga said.
DeSantis said they are talking about doing a pilot somewhere in a low lying residential area to see how it would work.
"We were just in Pasco County. I can tell you if they had that I don't think they would've had water damage in those homes," DeSantis said.
The Governor said it would be cost effective because you avoid damage and it possibly prevents you from having to file an insurance claim. He said he thinks it shows promise, and though it may not be ready for this hurricane season, he said he thinks we will see a lot of use of this in the future.
