Ever time I look on CNN there is another story about how the water has broken through sandbags somewhere in the Midwest. How often do sandbags actually work? Anyone here from the Midwest?

6/28/2008 4:00:11 PM

Do you have a better idea for a wall construction material that is easily assembled by novices in very little time based on easily available materials that are compactly stored in non-emergency situations?

6/28/2008 4:17:39 PM

only in sales

6/28/2008 4:24:23 PM

Since the entire Midwest isn't under water right now, I think the answer would be obvious.

6/28/2008 4:25:33 PM

6/28/2008 5:11:35 PM

^hah

but seriously like smc laid out, do you have a better solution?

6/28/2008 6:46:47 PM

can only build those sandbag walls so high, so fast, you know? just happened to be a shit-ton of water this goround.

6/28/2008 7:18:42 PM

no that is why they are the last hope to stop flooding.....

next stupid question please

6/28/2008 9:38:44 PM

i was wondering more about success/failure rates... and commenting that it just seems like they never work because that is all that is ever reported. that's not a stupid question.

6/28/2008 9:52:21 PM

i'll be the judge of that thank you very much

6/28/2008 9:55:02 PM

I have seen them keep water out of businesses in Annapolis MD when the bay floods from a surging high tide caused by a hurricane off the coast, but that was only a few feet of water. You have to think that the force behind a flooding river of water will overpower almost anything, especially sandbags.

6/28/2008 10:30:17 PM

You're not the only person I've heard ask this question lately. Someone said something like "we can put a man on the moon but haven't found a replacement for sandbags..."

6/28/2008 10:33:55 PM

when i heard a muskrat is what caused that one levee in missouri to fail i was like o-m-g...

6/28/2008 10:36:50 PM

Quote :

"i was wondering more about success/failure rates... and commenting that it just seems like they never work because that is all that is ever reported. that's not a stupid question. "

It's a little less attention-grabbing and/or sensational to say "In other news, 4 towns along the Mississippi were spared cresting floodwaters, thanks to victorious sandbagging efforts" than it is to say "BFE, MO flooded today when yet another sandbag wall was breached. 83 homes have been destroyed, and a municipal well was contaminated"

6/28/2008 10:56:03 PM

Quote :

""we can put a man on the moon but haven't found a replacement for sandbags...""

Quote :

"There are high-tech alternatives. U.S. Flood Control Corp. of Carson City, Nev., sells and rents huge tubes that can be filled with water to create makeshift dams. In Clarksville, San Francisco-based Geocell set up its Rapid Deployment Flood Wall, which consist of a series of 4-foot-square grids filled with sand that snap together to form an instant flood wall. A competitor, Illinois-based Metalith, deployed an aluminum barrier filled with sand, also at Clarksville. But the new ideas still take a back seat to the tried-and-true - and much cheaper - sandbag. "Sandbags work. They're easy to transport, easy to fill," Fournier said. "They're just a lot of work.""

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080626/D91HU2HO0.html

In the same article it points out that a sandbag costs about a quarter.

6/29/2008 4:29:57 AM

sandbags are work, but you'd be surprised at how quickly you can fill them.

6/29/2008 4:44:00 AM

but sandbags are manly

6/29/2008 12:57:33 PM

I saw one community got these high tech metal walls, they seemed to work...then just take them down and store them for future use.....sandbags, not so much for the storage.

6/29/2008 1:14:38 PM

uhh, ease of storage is one of the good things about sandbags. they just have to be empty.

at any rate, they're so cheap and plentiful, it's not always worth it to store used ones.

6/29/2008 1:26:14 PM

Dry sandbags can be stored, but those that get wet in a flood have to be disposed of in a landfill, because they absorb a lot of nasty shit from floodwaters (toxic chemicals and, well, actual shit).

6/29/2008 2:35:34 PM

I NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE SANDBAG CONCEPT either. its the 21st century. there has to be a better way.

6/29/2008 3:13:10 PM

yeah, like not building your house so damn close to a river

6/29/2008 3:15:46 PM

our basketball team got sand bagged pretty well

6/29/2008 3:17:29 PM

Quote :

"yeah, like not building your house so damn close to a river"

6/29/2008 8:27:20 PM

Well you're going to be wanting some sandbags when you're living in a van down by the river.

6/29/2008 8:36:56 PM

Quote :

"I saw one community got these high tech metal walls..."

The price of steel has increased 80% in the last six months.

If this inflation continues, we could stuff bags with useless currency and use those for flood barriers.


[Edited on June 29, 2008 at 9:06 PM. Reason : .]

6/29/2008 9:04:23 PM

the media doesnt like reporting "breaking news, there are reports of sand bag barrier is worked. back to you steve"

6/29/2008 9:40:26 PM