Protection against flooding is one of the major concerns to international communities as
climate change cause instability of global weather patterns. Permanent flood defence walls
and berms are costly and visually intrusive. Temporary demountable flood barriers are again
expensive and require manpower to erect them in time for the impending flood. An
innovative, low cost, self erecting barrier has been designed (International Patent pending)
based on a flexible geomembrane entrapped within a foundation trench. Protective covers
attached to the geomembrane are restrained by ties and rise with the flood waters to provide
the flood defence. The barrier has other applications for temporary water storage and when
designed with appropriate shock absorbing ties, may resist some of the energy forces of a
tsunami wave. Results of successful full scale pilot trials are reported in the Paper.