For kids

Why do we need a folding standby flood defence system, and why choose Dutchdam?

Far too often you hear about and see for yourself fresh incidents of flooding. After lots of rain the rivers become too full. The water overflows and floods into the houses; you can even paddle your canoe through the streets.

Then the stories start about the dikes and the walls of the quays being too low, so there is "water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink!"
But you coudn't have said that in the summer of 2003, for then the land was as dry as dust. But you must remember that unexpectedly long periods of dryness are as much part and parcel of our changing climate as those floods.

What the Dutchdam folding standby flood defence system can do is to is keep our houses and streets dry during times when the water level in the rivers gets too high.
Wherever the Dutchdam is in place it will be possible to raise the height of a dike or a quay really quickly, even in places like city centres, where using sand and clay just won't work.

It can be done simply and safely with the Dutchdam, for it is very sturdy and very strong.

So then, how did people used to cope with this problem in days gone by, for surely they suffered with the same problem of flooding then as well? Certainly they did suffer, and to protect themselves they would take planks and push them into the ,openings that they sometimes made in the side walls of the city gates, or in the spaces between the houses, or in the passageways between the dikes. We call such a defence system a "barrage", but it takes up a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

The Dutchdam can be installed as a complete unit in just the place it is needed most. But you may not notice it in normal weather, because then the dam-like walls stay folded up in the ground. You can walk or ride your bike over them without any problem. And what is also important is that you and all the people in your town will still have a good view of the river from home.

Dutchdam have developed several special designs of the folding standby flood defence system for use in particular situations, such as when the need arises to raise the height of the walls of a quay in the centre of a town, where it is important to get the job done quickly.

One of the results of the changes in our climate is that more rain now falls in a shorter time, and so the level of the water in the rivers rises much faster than it used to do. Some of the rivers running through the centres of our towns now rise at the rate of one metre every hour. When this happens you have no time to go home and try to save your property. It is far better to get the Dutchdam up immediately, for it is there, ready and waiting for just such a situation to arise. It only takes a few men and women a short time to set it up and thus protect hundreds of metres of river bank.

We have designed Dutchdam-Duplo to give an extra 120 cm. of height for defence against a flood. When the two linked panels are unfolded they form a very strong defensive wall, with powerful rear supports emerging from the housing. Everything is fixed together in such a way that it is now three times stronger than necessary. We prefer to leave it that way, for when it comes to matters of safety it is no use cutting corners. The Dutchdam can be screwed directly into a quay wall

Another design that we have developed is. It can easily be recognised from the shape of its cross-section. It looks like a triangle with a stick on top, a bit like a capital delta, the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. Delta is also the name we give to the area of land where the water of large river flows into the sea through channels which branch out in the shape of a triangle.

The Dutchdam-Delta has three sections, and this means it can be raised to give an extra 200 cm. of height for defence against the floods. It has been designed to be even stronger than the Dutchdam-Duplo. Because it can be raised higher it can withstand stronger pressure from the water and intercept higher waves.

This is what the Dutchdam can do. It is a new solution to an old problem. This new system of defence against the floods has meant we have had to get used to making very accurate calculations, which all have to be checked and rechecked. Once we saw from our drawings and calculations that it looked sturdy enough for all that we wanted it to do we had to go ahead and build one as an experiment. And so that is what we have done, and we know that it can resist whatever pressure the water and the waves throw against it.

For more information go to Dutchdam-Duplo and Dutchdam-Delta.