Air-dropped dams could fix levee breaches
Massive self-filling water-bags could be dropped by helicopters to rapidly repair levees
NewScientist Enviornment: Dams formed of metal tripods and self-filling water bladders could be air-dropped to rapidly repair levees breached by storm damage, say US government researchers.
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, the levees created to protect the city from flooding were breached and the resulting deluge left 80% of the city underwater.
Should a similar disaster strike the US again, the researchers hope that make-shift dams, dropped from the air, could stem prevent the resulting flood.
Solid structures, resembling tripods, would be dropped into the gap left by a levee breach. After the legs are secured to the riverbed, empty water bladders would be dropped in the river just in front of the structure, slightly upstream. These tube-shaped bags would then fill themselves with water using internal pumps and fit into the gaps in the structure (see video, right).
