Posts Tagged: "flood"

The story of its inventor, Harriet W.R. Strong, is a reminder of the incredible resilience that most innovators show in the face of adversity, whether those challenges are life or work-related. On December 6th, 1887, Strong was issued U.S. Patent No. 374,378, titled Dam and Reservoir Construction, from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It claimed an improvement in collecting and retaining water consisting of a series of reversed arched dams built one above the other in an inclined channel or valley so that the water in each lower dam acts as a brace or support for the dam above; the series of dams was connected by gates. This irrigation innovation allowed for lower-strength dams to be used higher up in the dam series and worked to save water in steep inclines or valleys instead of letting it drain away.

The most common type of severe weather emergency that affects American citizens and property owners is flash flooding, according to the National Flood Insurance Program. Flash floods, which can be caused by torrential downpours or the failure of man-made structures like dams or levees, causes rapid flooding of a low-lying area within six hours of the flood’s precipitating event. Half of all flash flooding fatalities are vehicle-related. With a coming El Niño that could dump a heavy amount of rainfall on southern California this winter, we wanted to revisit our Disaster Tech series to take a closer look at some flood management innovations being pursued to aid those in areas prone to flooding.