Floodwater condom

Abstract

A flood barrier for protecting a building or like structure includes a water-impermeable sheet, which can be formed of a plurality of bags. The sheet has one end fixedly connected to a non-buoyant element and a second end fixedly connected to a buoyant element and is rolled around the buoyant element. The barrier is positioned adjacent to the foundation of the structure being protected. As floodwaters encounter the barrier and rise, the rising water floats the buoyant element and the sheet of water-impermeable material rollably mounted thereon is deployed while the non-buoyant element of the structure remains in place. As floodwaters rise, the sheet is deployed from the roller and remains interposed between the waters and the structure.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the general art of property protection and to the particular field of protecting buildings and like structures from the effects of floods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the protection of structures, including buildings, homes, carports, etc., one of the most feared occurrences which homeowners have to cope with is the instance of flooding waters. As is well known, rising floodwater can cause extensive damage to the fabric and content of a building with alarming rapidity. Heavy rain and/or high tides can cause rivers to burst their banks and inundate a large area. It is very common that flood waters, which have a tendency to rise at a great rate, do often easily rise above the floor level of a home or a building, and result in untold damage to the structure itself, and the contents therein, including furniture, clothing, and even, human lives. It is a continuous struggle for residents of flood-prone areas to protect their homes and buildings from rising water. It is a known fact that despite homes and buildings being located in “high” areas that flooding does, in fact, occur, even in those areas where it has not occurred in the past. That being the case, no home or building which is on sea level or below, is really entirely immune to rising waters caused by flooding. Almost every year, reports come from different areas of the world describing devastation and heavy economic losses suffered by flood victims.

In many parts of the world, housing and structures are prone to water damage such as in the event of flooding or any other natural disasters. The foundation of houses is often built with concrete that will after a few months or years have, imperceptible or not, cracks. As it will be understood by anyone skilled in the art, this is just one of the ways from which flooding waters can infiltrate and seriously damage houses and parts of their content. Not all of the damage done to a building by flooding is caused by the flood waters themselves, but by the deposition of sediments carried in the flood waters, and contamination by micro-organisms present in the flood waters.

Various flood control techniques have been developed over the years in an attempt to protect land and buildings from floods. Some of these techniques include the construction of river embankments, soil conservation and reforestation. In spite of these techniques, flood waters may still at times reach and damage the structure as well as the interior contents of commercial and residential buildings. It is thus desirable to provide a means for protecting such buildings and their contents from the devastating effects of flood waters.

When flood conditions occur, containment barriers, walls, levees and the like are constructed from bags filled with sand. Conventionally, bags and sand are separately conveyed to a point adjacent the site of use after which the bags are filled with sand and placed in position or alternatively, bags already filled with sand are transported to a point adjacent the site of use and the filled sandbags are placed in position to form a barrier, wall, levee or the like. These procedures require adequate trucking facilities and are quite labor intensive inasmuch as the handling of the sandbags, filling of the sandbags and the like require many hours of laborious work. The filling of the sandbags is labor intensive and the bags filled with sand are heavy to stack. Furthermore, the removal of the sand from the bags after the flood conditions have subsided is also labor and equipment intensive, plus the problem of getting rid of the sand. Still further, while sand bags can act as a reasonably effective filter to remove mud from floodwater, sandbags are inconvenient, require a large amount of time and labor to install, can be used only once and, most particularly, they do not act as a good barrier to water entering premises.

At present, the inventor is not aware of any comprehensive system for protecting an individual structure entirely around its exterior from the onslaught of flooding waters. Therefore, it appears that at present, structures and the like, are extremely vulnerable to the effect of rising flood waters, and there appears to be a great need for a means to protect such structures which is readily available to most, if not all, home-owners, particularly, with the increased cost of homes, and the like. There is a need for a system to assure that the expensive structures which are being built at the present date can be easily and reliably protected and can be secure in the event of rising flood waters.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above-discussed disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by a flood barrier for protecting a building which comprises a base container which is non-buoyant; a second container which is buoyant; a water-impermeable sheet rolled onto the second container and having a first end fixedly connected to the base container and a second end fixedly connected to the second container; a coupling element movably coupling the second container to the base container; and a support post to which the base container is movably coupled.

The barrier is positioned adjacent to the foundation of the structure being protected. As floodwaters encounter the barrier and rise, the rising water floats the buoyant element and the sheet of water-impermeable material rollably mounted thereon is deployed while the non-buoyant element of the structure remains in place. As floodwaters rise, the sheet is deployed from the roller and remains interposed between the waters and the structure.

The flood barrier embodying the present invention is easily installed and which is quickly, reliably and efficiently deployed when necessary and does not require any lengthy or complex preparations and steps to deploy.

Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the invention will be, or will become, apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following figures and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the invention, and be protected by the following claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, like referenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a flood barrier embodying the present invention in place adjacent to a structure being protected.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a support stake used to maintain the flood barrier in position.

FIG. 3 illustrates a connection between bags included in the flood barrier of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates the deployment of the flood barrier embodying the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternative flood barrier.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the figures, it can be understood that the present invention is embodied in a flood barrier 10 for protecting a building 12, such as a residence or the like from the effects of flood waters 14. Barrier 10 comprises a support post 20 which is mounted in the ground 22 adjacent to building 12. Support post 20 is mounted in the ground and extends upwardly from the ground.

A base portion 30 includes a first cylindrical container 32 which has a first end 34, a second end 36 and a longitudinal axis 38 which extends between first end 34 and second end 36. In one form of the invention, the first container is hollow. A non-buoyant material 44, such as sand or the like, is contained in first cylindrical container 32. The bottom container can be formed from a plurality of sandbags if desired. Closures, such as zipper Z may be provided in the first cylinder container 32 to fill the container 32 with sand. The first container 32 may be also provided with a filling port 40 on the side of the container to allow a user to fill the first container with water. For a permanent installation, the base portion 30 or the first cylinder container 32 may be buried below the ground level.

A floating portion 50 includes a second cylindrical container 52 has a first end 54, a second end 56, and a longitudinal axis 58 which extends between first end 54 and second end 56 of second container 52. Second container 52 is hollow. A filling port 60 is located on first end 54 of the second container. A buoyant material 64, such as air, is contained in the second cylindrical container.

An axle 66 is located on the second container and the second container rotates around axle 66 during use as will be understood from the teaching of this disclosure. A water-impermeable sheet, such as a plurality of water-impermeable bags 82, is rollably mounted on second container 52. In the case of bags, each of the bags has a coupling element 84 which releasably couples the bag to adjacent bags. The coupling element can be similar to the zip-lock on zip lock bags. As can be understood from FIG. 4, the coupling elements are located on the sheet such that there is an overlap section between adjacent sections to further ensure against penetration of water to the building. The overlapping sections have a coupling element 102 such as zippers, Ziplocs, Velcro, and the like. In one form of the invention, the coupling element is oriented in a horizontal orientation, such as shown in FIG. 1, while in a second form of the invention, the coupling element is oriented vertically such as shown in FIG. 3.

In the horizontal orientation, the bags can be coupled together to control the overall length of the impermeable layer as measured in direction 86 which is the direction of movement of the second container during use of barrier 10 as will be understood from the teaching of this disclosure. In the case of the vertically oriented coupling element, the coupling elements can be used to control the width of the impermeable layer as measured in the direction of the longitudinal axes of the containers to control the coverage of the barrier as measured in the direction of the longitudinal axes. A first end 88 of the sheet is fixedly connected to the first container and a second end 90 is fixedly connected to the second container.

Yet another form of the barrier can include a plurality of modules, such as modules M1 and M2 with an overlapping section 150 to couple the two modules M1 and M2, as shown in FIG. 4. The overlapping sections 150 include one or more coupling elements 102 such as a zippers, Ziplocs, Velcro, the like to releasably couple two modules M1 and M2 together. In addition, a combination of coupling elements may be provided in the overlapping sections. For instance, as shown in FIG. 3, a zipper element 102 may be provided between two Ziploc elements 84 to substantially seal the overlapping sections from water. A guide track 110, as shown in FIG. 1, can be placed on the building wall to further control movement of the floating container as it floats upwardly in response to the rising floodwater. The sections of the sheet, or the modules, can be coupled together to form an overall sheet of any suitable length whereby a building wall of any length can be fully protected. The thickness of the sheet can be selected to ensure against water penetration as well.

FIG. 2 shows a first coupling element 100, such as a chain link or the like, movably coupling the first container to the support post and a second coupling element, such as a mountain climbing link or rope, movably couples the first container to the second container.

FIG. 5 shows an alternative flood barrier 200, where a first container 32 is placed between two floating portions 50 for added strength and stability. As discussed above, the first container 32 may be filled with sand and/or water to add weight to the first container 32.

In use, as flood water 14 advances in direction 106 toward building 12, that water first encounters container 30 which is not buoyant and thus will not move when encountered by the water. As the water depth increases, the water covers the first container and encounters the floatable container. As the depth of the water continues to increase, the floatable container floats upwardly in direction 86. As this container is coupled to the non-floating container, it will tend to roll in direction 108 thereby unrolling the water-impermeable sheet from the floatable container as that container rises on the water. The water-impermeable sheet is held against the building by the water and protects the building from the water. The entire length or circumference of the building wall can be protected by adding flood barriers and/or widths of water-impermeable sheets using the coupling elements 84.

The flood barrier 10 may be used in a variety of applications. For instance, flood water barrier 10 may be installed along flood prone river banks to help protect large areas; installed upon river dykes to provide added height against rising river flood water; installed in and around beach areas vulnerable to chronic tidal floods; deployed into moving or standing water to prevent spread of hazardous materials, like oil; and installed into a levee breach to quicken recovery time.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A flood barrier for protecting a building comprising:

A) a support post which is mounted in the ground adjacent to a structure that is to be protected from contact with floodwater, the support post being mounted in the ground and extending upwardly from the ground;

B) a base portion including (1) a first cylindrical container having a first end, a second end, and a longitudinal axis which extends between the first end and the second end of the first container, the first container being hollow, (2) a filling port on the first container, and (3) a non-buoyant material contained in the first cylindrical container;

C) a floating portion which includes (1) a second cylindrical container having a first end, a second end, and a longitudinal axis which extends between the first end and the second end of the second container, the second container being hollow, (2) a filling port on the first end of the second container, (3) a buoyant material contained in the second cylindrical container, and (4) an axle on the second container and around which the second container rotates during use;

D) a plurality of water-impermeable bags rollably mounted on the second container, each of the bags having a coupling element which releasably couples the bag to adjacent bags, a first bag being fixedly connected to the first container and a second bag being fixedly connected to the second container;

E) a first coupling element which movably couples the first container to the support post; and

F) a second coupling element which movably couples the first container to the second container.

2. A flood barrier for protecting a building comprising:

A) a base container which is non-buoyant;

B) a second container which is buoyant;

C) a water-impermeable sheet rolled onto the second container and having a first end fixedly connected to the base container and a second end fixedly connected to the second container;

D) a coupling element movably coupling the second container to the base container; and

E) a support post to which the base container is movably coupled.

3. The flood barrier defined in claim 1 wherein the first container includes a sandbag.

4. The flood barrier defined in claim 1 wherein adjacent bags overlap each other.