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Changing weather and flooding patterns over the past few years have led to a greater degree of uncertainty of where flooding will actually occur. Flash flooding caused by torrential rainfall overwhelming local drainage is seen to be an increasing risk in areas which, previously, had little risk of the more predictable river or coastal flooding.

Local Authorities and Housing Associations are responsible for large numbers of tenants and leaseholders and need to make provision for flood protection.

The traditional sandbag is expensive, time consuming and often inefficient despite the apparent simplicity of the solution. Preparing and distributing sandbags as well as their subsequent disposal consumes manpower which is usually needed elsewhere.

Modern sandbag substitutes can reduce the initial workload but still require careful disposal as sewage contamination is often a problem in the aftermath of a flooding event.

The Floodgate is unique amongst floodbarrier solutions as it requires no modifications to be made to the property where it is deployed. This means that a small number of Floodgates held in a central depot can be deployed to wherever they are needed at very short notice, providing highly effective and economical risk mitigation to cover a substantial and geographically distributed housing stock.

Read on to see how Bron Afon Community Housing have used Floodgates in this way...

Bron Afon Community Housing Limited was set up earlier in 2008, to take over the ownership, management and improvement of homes previously owned by Torfaen County Borough Council.

After the disappointingly wet summer of 2008 had left the whole area of the South Wales valleys waterlogged, it was clear that any further rainfall was likely to significantly increase the risk of flash flooding.

Wednesday 3rd September 2008 brought another severe weather warning from the Met Office for the coming weekend...

Dave Sharman, Director of Property at Bron Afon Community Housing, said: “Whenever we get a severe weather warning we check our stores for stocks of sandbags. This often means we have to use our staff that should be out working on tenants’ homes to come in and fill the bags. We estimate that it costs around £9,000 to repair a flood damaged home. But there are other factors that you can’t put a cost on such as the distress to a family and the inevitable missed days off school and work.

“We decided to look into alternative flood protection systems and found Floodgates. After placing our order on Wednesday they arrived on Friday which was just in time for a heavy downpour. A tenant in Blaenavon called us and we immediately went out and fitted one to their door. It did a first class job of protecting the house, which saved us thousands of pounds and avoided the distress of moving this tenant into emergency housing.”