Hollywood Beach takes proactive measures ahead of potential bad weather
MIAMI - Rolled up in bags on a truck on Hollywood Beach are orange tubes called Tiger Dam.
They're being deployed on parts of Central Beach in Hollywood ahead of expected bad weather.
"This area traditionally has been susceptible to extensive flooding primarily caused by tidal elevation and storm surge type of impacts," said Jaime Hernandez. He is Hollywood's Emergency Manager.
This is the first time "Tiger Dam" has been deployed here.
"Tiger Dams are 50-foot-long tubes that filled up with water to create a reusable flood barrier. They join together end to end, you can run them seamlessly for miles and you can stack them in as pyramid formation to gain height," said Cheryl Witmer. She's with U.S. Flood Control, the company that makes Tiger Dam.
Hernandez says they're trying to stay a step ahead of Mother Nature, getting these reusable flood barriers filled with water and in place before bad weather.
"With climate change, these are things we have to be prepared for 12 months of the year, no longer June 1-November 30. It's up to us to be ahead of this, be proactive," he said.
Just last month King Tides, coupled with wind and rain flooded the Broadwalk with ocean water and sand. All that had to be cleaned up. It's costly and time-consuming because you can't just sweep the sand back on the beach.
"There are some environmental considerations we have to take into account before that sand is literally picked up and either put on the beach of disposed of depending what the situation was," Hernandez said.
Charles Gale hopes these temporary barriers will do the job — keeping flood waters and sand off the Broadwalk, avoiding a repeat of last month.
"There's been an awful lot of sand, not just on the Broadwalk, but Surf Road too. It gets there somehow," he said.
The company that makes Tiger Dam said it's also used in Miami, Miami Beach and other areas of the state.