Defence against flood inundation to property

Repel has developed a revolutionary approach to, and system for, defence against flood inundation to property.

Repel has developed a revolutionary approach to, and system for, defence against flood inundation to property.

The system is fully automatic, does not require an external power supply to raise or lower it and can protect areas of land/property, not merely buildings.

Existing "demountable" systems require extensive manpower to erect and dismantle, whilst other permanent systems are extremely expensive to install and maintain Whole-property defence systems rely upon the building itself to act as the structural strength/support for the barrier.

This reliance has a maximum height of between 1.5 and 2.0 metres (depending upon the state of repair) before a conventional brick wall could fail, structurally, from hydrostatic pressure.

Additionally, these systems are often sealed to the building's foundations.

The upward pressure of the rising water table would (for a flood height in excess of the heights stated above) thereby either lift the building off its own foundations, buckle the walls or at the very least cause serious structural damage to the ground flooring.

When not in use, the system folds itself back into its containing trench (also made of an impact and corrosion-resistant material).

The top of the float can then be walked on or driven over throughout the drier periods of the year.

In order to prevent flexing and movement of the system due to floodwater currents, the pontoon/float and battens rise up guide rails on (steel) pillars slotted into embedded (steel) box sections around the inner perimeter of the system.

Other applications of the same principle include low cost swimming pools, environmental protection (sudden liquid contaminent spillage from a storage facity) and emergency reservoir/storm surge storage.

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