Different Techniques To Prevent Flooding Throughout History

4/25/2022 (Permalink)

The Thames Barrier in England

Throughout history, different cultures have faced the threat of high water. This often comes in the form of excessive rains that cause rivers and streams to rise, flowing over banks and inundating homes and buildings. Efforts to escape the devastation caused by floods include moving to new areas, building trenches to divert water and piling up sandbags. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when sandbags first were used to stop flooding, but the practice has been around for more than a century. They are inexpensive and effective, though they require a lot of heavy labor.

The Use of Engineering in Flood Prevention

Many places in the world undertook more extensive measures to control flooding. These efforts involved advanced engineering, often on an epic scale. Many of these programs were developed to keep ocean waters from destroying cities or farmland:

• The Thames Barrier in England
  
• The Watergates of Japan
  
• The Maeslant Storm Barrier in the Netherlands
  
• The MOSE Project in Venice, Italy
  
  

While effective in stopping high water, these projects were extremely expensive. However, they allowed areas of valuable land to remain in use despite fluctuating water levels.

The Utilization of Restoration Services

In recent times, water cleanups have become increasingly sophisticated thanks to professional storm restoration services for commercial properties. A local franchise in Houston, TX, employs highly-skilled workers who understand the best techniques for restoring a building. These technicians use advanced equipment such as wet vacuums, industrial fans and thermal imaging cameras to erase the impacts of floods and devastating storms. They also employ a variety of cleaning techniques to clean surfaces of microbial and chemical substances as a result of high water. Since water can destroy and corrode everything from wood to metals, the technicians restore and rebuild areas of a building that have undergone severe damage. While water is indispensable to life on the planet, history has shown that it also requires exceptional efforts when it rages out of control.