Emergency teams in Canterbury are trialling a new type of flood barrier that can protect homes during wild weather events.
The Selwyn District council has spent more than $200,000 on Tarpaulin Makers' ARK flood barriers, which were 14.5 metre PVC tubes joined together to create a continuous barrier equivalent to 160 sandbags.
Selwyn District Council has spent more than $200,000 on new flood barriers designed to better protect homes. (Source: 1News)
Once they're filled with water - via a fire hydrant or water truck, in about ten minutes - they're half a metre high, heavy and strong.
After a flood, they could be emptied, rolled up and stored.
"Sandbags are sort of yesterday's news. This is new technology," said Selwyn head of emergency management Al Lawn.
"If a house gets flooded it costs between $30,000 and $100,000 to mitigate or remediate those houses after they've been flooded. So the money spent on this can help save that."
The barriers were created by a Tauranga tarpaulin company who saw the idea overseas.
"If you laid it along the lake side of Lake Taupō, for example, it would hold all of Lake Taupō back. It's just an amazing principle of that water and how it works," Tarpaulin Makers shade and flood specialist Klint Brittain-Freemantle said.
Shane Cole from Fire and Emergency New Zealand said the new barriers were more time efficient, compared to sandbags.
"From rolling it out to having it up was about six to eight minutes, which is really quick compared to if it's the equivalent of 150 sandbags," he said.
With an increasingly tumultuous climate, Selwyn mayor Lydia Gliddon said different operations were needed.
"You can't do nothing in this situation and so you've got to lead the charge. You've got to look at different ways to operate," she said.
So far, Selwyn District Council have bought 50 units of the barriers, and Tarpaulin Makers said they have capacity to make more.
"Honestly, from the heart, if we can, it would be fantastic because we can see how good these things are and how much good they can do," Brittain-Freemantle said.
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