Sand bags filler

[terrier]

These lads would seem to be the answer to being prepared.

http://www.ashiexports.com/self_inflatory.htm

They could be stored around the country @ flood-risk points.

[Truck Driver]

A big fancy machine could have done the job too but there are questions then of who pays for it? Who owns it? Who is responsible for Maintenance? If it was government owned where would it be kept?

The logical owners would be the local authority (Co/City Council) I would have
thought ?

[GoneToTheCanner]

The Councils manage to maintain and store gritting machines, which can be attached to standard trucks and detached when not in use, so a sandbag filling machine would be easy to deal with.
regards
GttC

[hptmurphy]

To all those filling sandbags by hand, do not lose heart.. they work as well as the gucci ones Border Bunny has.

[DeV]

The Councils manage to maintain and store gritting machines, which can be attached to standard trucks and detached when not in use, so a sandbag filling machine would be easy to deal with.
regards
GttC

I know of a county that regularly suffers frost & ice on the roads, for at least a year they had no gritter as they left the salt/grit or whatever in the machine and it caused it to become permanently blocked.

[GoneToTheCanner]

Well, from experience, I know that Wicklow CC gets it's grit and machines ready and placed out around the county well before the temps get below freezing.I've seen them in action, even in very remote parts of the county.
regards
GttC

[DeV]

I was actually talking about Wicklow, they had to buy replacements as a result (they usually do some of the worse roads at the expense of the urban areas.

[GoneToTheCanner]

They do that because for years, they prioritised main roads such as the N11, which were comparatively easy to grit and people elsewhere were unable to get out of their houses and down to the main roads.Essentially, they still do but their coverage is much wider and people in outlying areas have a better chance of using the roads than before.
regards
GttC

[ZULU]

6 sheets of 3/4" plywood, some plastic sheeting, a nail gun, a ripsaw, couple of lengths of 2x2" batons and 2 pieces of suitable sized wavin pipe or traffic cones, a handheld drill and some screws.

You now have a hopper that takes an hour to make, that can accomodate a manitou or forklift with bucket and two feed chutes at the bottom.
The manitou will never get tired (apart from diesel) and you only need two people to fill bags and tie.

[ZULU]

....

[piper_69]

Check this out. BCBhave a sandbag filler and they say you can fill 480 per hour with it.

http://bcbin.com/

It would cost a hell of a lot less than the Sandking.
Zulu, did the guys in the photo cut the ends off the cones to make the hole bigger to allow the sand through faster?

[hedgehog]

We may aswell acept it that flooding is going to become an annual occurence for some parts
of the COuntry-

what should happen is this

Prisoners nearing the end of their sentence( including Military) looking for extra remission or time off for good behaviour

should be brought to secure areas all around the country and given the task of filling sandbags-
they would then be palleted and distributed to different County COuncils all around the COuntry
held in weather proofed conditions.

come the flood warnings- they could be transported to where they are needed.

this could be done on a yearly basis-

[GoneToTheCanner]

Excellent idea, HH.........apart from the fact that they'd object to having their "Yooman rights" tampered with.
regards
GttC

[hedgehog]

If you make it voluntary

in that for every pallet they earn 1/2 days remission or 10 mars bars etc

[DeV]

Or top up peoples dole for doing it.

There was a Cork county councillor would made an excellent suggestion last week....

One of the major problems is drains on roads etc not being regularly cleared of rubbish etc, he suggested taking on 200 people from the dole (mainly builders/labourers as they are used to labour intensive work & weather conditions) and top up their dole by a small amount, it would cost around € 1 million and it could come out of the roads budget.