Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s Massive Bend area as a Class 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. Thus far, 22 fatalities have been reported. And whereas there was widespread flooding, together with the closely populated cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg, Tampa Common Hospital, located proper alongside Tampa Bay, has managed to remain dry.
That is because of a 5- to 10-foot excessive barrier generally known as an AquaFence, which goes viral on a number of platforms due to the way it appears to have protected the area’s solely Degree 1 trauma heart.
As #HurricaneHelene continues, the AquaFence at TGH stands agency. The water-impermeable barrier is designed to face up to storm surge as much as 15 ft. It has labored by way of a number of rain occasions to forestall storm waters from impacting hospital operations. #WeAreTGH #StormWatch pic.twitter.com/papsd6oPg2
— Tampa Common Hospital (@TGHCares) September 27, 2024
AquaFence was based in 1999 and has places of work in Norway and New Jersey. Based on the corporate’s web site, its methods are “defending greater than $30 billion price of actual property in the USA alone,” together with every little thing from resorts to fuel stations to a Shake Shack.
The product is designed to be put in rapidly and (pretty) simply. In 2023, AquaFence USA President Thomas Briedis informed native outlet, WTSP Tampa 10, that 100 ft of AquaFence might be put in in half-hour.
“They arrive folded collectively, sort of like a laptop computer,” he mentioned. “You are taking them out of the crate, put them down they usually fold open.”
Briedis additionally mentioned that the corporate is engaged on a line of residential AquaFences, which might value round $20,000. The obstacles are designed to guard in a Class 5 hurricane.
“We’re very assured within the system. It was been completely examined,” Briedis informed the outlet.
