Sandbags.

[Workingman]

They are all we hear about during the floods, as though they are some kind of magic bullet to prevent flooding - they are definitely not.

Filled and placed properly they can reduce the flow of water, but they will not prevent seepage. Once in place they have to be monitored continually with constant mopping, pumping or bailing and that includes on river banks, roadways and homes. They cannot be left in a doorway in the hope of stopping water getting in. Unfortunately that falsehood is what has been sold to those demanding them. They are not dams, they are, at best, temporary restrictions. They also will do absolutely nothing to stop rising groundwater, which is one of the biggest problems people are suffering.

Another thing that I have noticed about those being used is that they are overfilled and not tied in properly. Two-thirds filled and loosely tied are best, and then overlaid in the way brickwork is. Some of the plastic bag monsters I have seen, built in columns, are worse than useless. They are not much more than the visible "help" people have been led to believe they need.

[KateLMead]

They should have you in charge of the operation Frank !!

[TheOstrich]

That's very interesting, WM; I've always wondered just how effective sandbags were ......

On a wider note, river-side flood defences are all very well, but at the end of the day, the water has to go somewhere, and inundates other properties further downstream where the investment hasn't taken place ....

[Workingman]

Kate.

I would have every one of the politicians study my second-year geography topic about the Nile and why it is now on a different course from the time of the Pharaohs and why its delta spreads out over 200km of the Mediterranean sea. They would learn about "lazy" rivers and why they silt up and why, left to their own devices, they would wander, willy-nilly across the landscape.

Then they would 'compare and contrast' with the Mississippi with its hundreds of miles of levees and numerous spillways because it needs to be controlled. It cannot be allowed to bypass St Louis, Memphis, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, it is too important an international waterway for that to happen. Like it or not it has to be dredged and cleared of debris and vegetation to allow it to flow.

None of this would make them experts, but it would give them a starting point to work from when dealing with out much smaller rivers and streams. It would certainly be more useful than a PPE form Oxbridge.

[Workingman]

That's very interesting, WM; I've always wondered just how effective sandbags were ......

Whenever on exercise or detachment we would build sandbag walls around the likes of generators and fuel dumps. They allowed us a bit of breathing space to hold things back should things go wrong. They were never intended as permanent impermeable structures.

I have filled more than a few in my time....

[Kaz]

That's if you can even get them! Saw online that some Egham residents (in my old road in fact, which is flooded!) were having to buy them in!! Utterly disgraceful..................

[KateLMead]

Frank you are so knowledgable , pity. we don't have a few more brains like you three males who post on here
I heard this morning that a British company Two I believe have sold equipment to Malaysia and the USA that has proved
Hugely successful in flood control. Why are these companies being ignored in this their own country.?

[Aggers]

I have thought for some time that the sand bags we have seen being placed in position are much too full.

It is obvious that they need to be more loosely filled so that they can nestle together to make a seal.

What has gone wrong with what we used to call 'common sense''?

Is all this modern technology producing a generation of brainless individuals?

It makes me wonder.

[Workingman]

I had to smile as I saw what looked to be the first workable sandbag "dam" since these floods began.

A builder in Datchet, had to be a builder, had cut a piece of plywood to fit in the door opening. He had draped this with plastic sheeting before laying his sandbag wall - to reach well past the door opening.

The inside wasn't exactly "dry" dry, but wringing out a few floor cloths was much better than wading through the alternative.