Roscommon firm seals flood management deals in US

A ROSCOMMON company has secured a number of deals for its flood management system in the US in recent weeks.

Global Flood Solutions (GFS) acquired export deals for its Big Bag System in Canada and the US as local authorities prepare for the spring thaw, which is expected to cause major flooding across North America.

The firm’s award-winning system was in action last week in the city of Medicine Hat, where heavy snow in the Cypress Hills is causing major flooding in the prairies of Alberta.

The Medicine Hat Engineering Department has signed a C$300,000 (€ 225,000) deal for several kilometres of the Big Bag System, the first delivery of which was put in place overnight last week to protect the town after the local dam on the Saskatchewan river was breached following the declaring of a state of emergency across Alberta.

South of the border in Massachusetts, GFS also signed a US$100,000 (€ 75,000) deal with utility firm Springfield Water to protect its treatment plants along the Connecticut river, which suffered extensive flooding last year.

“We received a call from Medicine Hat last week saying that flooding was predicted and they urgently wanted to buy the Big Bag System. Within 24 hours our first delivery had been flown up to Alberta and was being put in place,” said Shane Curran, a GFS director, and a former inter-county GAA football star.

“The worst floods in 150 years have been predicted in Alberta as the Cypress Hills gives up its heavy snow. A state-wide state of emergency has been declared and is expected to stay in place for well into May. Medicine Hat was protected and we received very good feedback to our response.”

The Roscommon start-up has now sealed three international export deals this year following their £2 million contract to supply UK company SG Baker, which was announced in the new year.

The major advantage of the Big Bag System is its concertina design of five robust polypropylene bags, which means it can be deployed faster than any other flood defence system and costs less per unit than more conventional sandbags. It is water repellent on the front side and has a unique filtration component on the rear side, which allows the rainwater to seep out. A kilometre of the Big Bag System can be deployed within a few hours, with minimum levels of labour required.

GFS was founded by Mr Curran and Gerard Brennan in 2009. The company’s team has more than 30 years of combined experience in innovation and engineering.