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Architecture & Engineering


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September 28, 2016

Barriers used to protect soldiers now stop floodwaters in Iowa

  • The Hesco barriers were invented by a former coal miner who used them to stop erosion on his property. The U.S. military used them in Iraq and Afghanistan.
    • By RYAN J. FOLEY and SCOTT McFETRIDGE
    Associated Press

    CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Iowa's second-largest city has managed to keep flooding at bay largely because of barriers that were widely used to protect soldiers in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Crews in Cedar Rapids hastily erected Hesco barriers along nearly 10 miles of the Cedar River through neighborhoods and downtown. As of Tuesday morning, the sand-filled containers had protected thousands of properties, some up to 4 feet beneath the surging waterway.


     
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