Stop and think about it
What are the hidden costs of sandbags?
Sandbags may be cheap to purchase, but they are expensive to use. Sandbag walls have inefficient trapezoidal or triangular cross-sections, requiring up to twice as much fill as square walls. Sandbags require enormous amounts of physical labor which, while it is often provided by volunteers, is often paid for after the flood event as part of disaster relief. Sandbag walls are expensive to dispose of, typically being hauled off to landfills at great expense. And in stockpiling sandbags, there is almost always some loss to vermin and mildew.
But beyond the hidden monetary costs of sandbags, consider the true cost of relying on sandbags.
I have some ideas on how one could build portable, less labor-intensive flood walls. If y’all know someone who knows how to build things other than blogs, ping me.
