Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Temporary Flood Barriers topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board hears proposal to buy deployable flood barriers as near‑term option
Summary
A board member and emergency physician presented portable flood barriers and other temporary measures as lower‑cost, rapidly deployable ways to reduce localized flooding while long‑term projects proceed; the board asked consultants to evaluate temporary options alongside permanent designs.
Keith, an emergency physician who has researched temporary flood defenses, presented portable and quickly deployed flood barriers to the Flood Prevention, Climate Resilience and Erosion Control Board at its Feb. 18 meeting and urged the board to consider low‑cost, low‑failure‑cost options to reduce localized flood impacts while permanent projects are designed and permitted.
"I'm an emergency doctor," Keith said, explaining he was not an engineer but that the town faces occasional, high‑impact events and could benefit from interim measures. He described two families of products: lightweight interlocking box‑type walls and water‑filled barriers such as AquaFence, and showed demonstrations used in Europe and Australia. He said the smaller box units can be moved by hand and that two people with minimal training can deploy many systems quickly.
Keith provided approximate retail pricing and deployment expectations. He said a 120‑foot run of the smaller (20‑inch) modular units was roughly $8,000 at retail and a larger product was roughly $16,000 for a comparable run, and noted bulk municipal purchasing would reduce costs. He also called attention to practical needs: secure, accessible storage (he suggested Old Fish Park), a pickup truck for transport and a trained small crew for deployment.
Board Chair Becky Bunnell said she had asked consultants to review both permanent and temporary options in the master‑plan work session and asked that a condensed version of Keith’s briefing be shared with Wesson & Sampson for the March work session. Circa contacts and other resilience organizations were identified as potential additional resources to examine temporary‑structure feasibility and regulatory needs.
Why it matters: temporary barriers can be ordered and staged before long‑lead permanent projects are completed, enabling the town to respond to short‑notice storms and reduce damage to homes and critical facilities. The board did not vote on purchasing; members asked staff and consultants to include temporary options in upcoming planning work.
Ending: The board requested staff to forward Keith’s materials to consultants, and to return options and cost estimates for discussion at the March work session.
