DEMOUNTABLE FLOOD PROTECTION WITH THE TERRA STOP LOG SYSTEM

DEMOUNTABLE FLOOD PROTECTION WITH THE TERRA STOP LOG SYSTEM.

Huge numbers of people, huge quantities of materials, high costs – that was the flood protection of the past, with sandbags. These days, demountable protective walls, which can be erected in a day, ensure dependable safety and good economics.

Lauenburg at the height of the summer. A few hundred metres away, the River Elbe flows harmlessly past the old Palm Lock. But this river can become a monster: normally 5 meters deep, it can rise to 8.70 or even 9.12 meters, as the floods of 2002 and 2006 proved. It was only thanks to the time-consuming and costly intervention of the fire brigade that the historic timber-frame building adjacent to Palm Lock and the “Shun Lam” Chinese restaurant within could be saved during those floods.

Traditionally, temporary protection against flooding is achieved with piles of sandbags. However, when we consider the total cost, such protection is often uneconomical because besides the production, transport and placing of the sandbags, the high cost of their later disposal as special waste must also be considered.

The terra aluminium stop log system from terra infrastructure therefore represents an ideal solution. A reinforced concrete plinth and a demountable flood protection wall will prevent flood-waters from threatening the building in future.

In June, the protective wall was erected for the first time by workers from the localwater board – as a test. “If we’re not interrupted, then the wall can be set up in a day,” explains Andreas Sassenhagen, the managing director of the water board. “It’s a great system,” says foreman Wolfgang Genczik enthusiastically. In total, the water board has spent one million euros on securing the area between the Palm Lock and the railway tracks adjacent to the Elbe-Lübeck Canal.

Demountable flood protection in the form of a terra aluminium stoplog system has been provided over a length of 80.50 meters around a tourist restaurant where the edge of the terrace for guests coincides with the flood protection line. The 90 stop log elements can be erected on the wall to the terrace to create a barrier 1.30 meters high as temporary protection against floods. The stop log elements are kept in stores specially constructed for the purpose in a roll-off container with side doors.

We can design individual flood protection schemes, including transport and storage requirements, for every situation, to suit the local circumstances. The terra aluminium stop log system has proved itself as a temporary flood protection system in many situations – in terms of economy and ecology. One stop log panel, 2 meters long, protective height 1 meters, corresponds to approx. 320 sandbags! The system consists of just a few aluminium elements that can be assembled to provide protective walls of various heights.

The height can be increased later, meaning that it is possible to react flexibly and at short notice to changing conditions. Erection is quickly completed with a small workforce. And easy handling means that such a wall can even be built by unskilled labour.

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