Sure would be cheaper than dams or levees! :)
Greenbrae fighting water with water
John Dugan
Article Launched: 01/18/2008 11:30:13 PM PST
Residents of the Greenbrae Boardwalk kept dry this winter for the first time in years, and they can thank Peter Hogg, Jack Curley and a big plastic bag for it.
Hogg, a boardwalk resident, and Curley, an assistant civil engineer for the Marin County Public Works Department, have resolved a flooding problem that plagued the Greenbrae Boardwalk for years. Thanks to Hogg's deployment of a tubular bag filled with water, the boardwalk and Redwood Highway stayed dry this year despite a high tide and severe storm Jan. 4.
The device - a large, waterbed-like bag called the "Water-Inflated Property Protector" that blocks flooding at the source - is filled with water at a fire hydrant near the entrance to the boardwalk.
Hogg said the bag got its first real test during the storm and performed perfectly.
"There was no flooding on Redwood Highway," Hogg said. "The trailer park would have flooded; it didn't. There are some water pumps to control the flooding that usually get overwhelmed by the water; they didn't.
"We basically solved the flooding issue."
