In most instances, water and airplanes don't mix well. Hurricanes and storm surge are cases in point.
To help stave off future storm surge situations, the Naples Airport’s operations team recently completed training on a new flood barrier system designed to protect the airport’s buildings, vital equipment and technology.
Naples Airport Authority purchased 3,000 feet of industrial-grade flexible tubing. Filled with water, linked together and anchored into place the tubing creates an airtight barrier proven more effective than sandbags at holding back floodwaters.
Called the Tiger Dam system and manufactured by Louisiana-based U.S. Flood Control, the device provides resiliency for key buildings around the airfield and the airport’s communication systems.
Storm surge flooded portions of the airport during Hurricane Ian. Water from the Gordon River and Naples Bay came "within inches” of causing catastrophic flooding in places.
“Having seen the water three to five feet throughout the airport really changed our thinking about how we prepare and mitigate our facilities for future events,” said Justin Lobb, deputy director of aviation at Naples Airport.
“We realized we needed to protect our assets more proactively,” added Barry Brown, director of operations and maintenance for Naples Airport. “We looked at a number of different resources that could meet those needs and Tiger Dam really stood out as pretty easy to deploy, a lot less expensive than some of the other systems and it’s pretty intuitive.”
The Tiger Dam system is used nationwide by utility companies, government agencies, hospitals, large businesses and retail centers.
Naples Airport purchased enough tubing to protect the North Road Terminal, General Aviation Terminal, Airport Office Building, Facilities Building and Fuel Farm. Each 50-foot tube stands 2 feet tall when filled and holds 1,300 gallons of water, which weighs 10,842 pounds.
Naples Airport will use a two-by-one configuration with two tubes on the bottom and one stacked on top, creating a 3.5-foot tall dam.
Naples Airport’s operations team held a training exercise on Aug. 13 that involved filling, stabilizing, anchoring, stacking, draining and packing the flood barriers. The Tiger Dams are stored onsite in a custom trailer and rapidly deployed within hours based on weather forecasters’ predictions for storm surge.
“Tiger Dam is an emergency rapid deployment,” said Cheryl Witmer, sales director for U.S. Flood Control, adding that Tiger Dams essentially fight water with water. “You can put it up very quickly with very few people.”
Naples Airport Authority’s Tiger Dam system cost $259,370 and was paid for using airport funds. Naples Airport, which receives no local taxpayer dollars, is a self-sustaining entity that generates revenue through fuel sales, hangar rentals and other related services.
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