TrapBag® Flood and Erosion Control
Rapid-Deployment Flood Barriers
Emergency workers can deploy TrapBag flood barriers in a fraction of the required time with even better results than traditional sandbags. These flood and erosion control systems are designed to withstand hundreds of tons of pressure and keep water away from manmade and natural structures.
Learn More »Erosion Barriers
Designed to protect riverbanks, coastlines, vulnerable soil areas, and endangered sand dunes, erosion barriers have multiple applications. They can protect riverside and coastal homes and buildings across France from damage due to bank destabilization and can keep existing soil or sand in place to protect the entire coastline.
Learn More »Projects
Who We Serve In France
TrapBag provides flood and erosion protection for industries across France, including everything from reinforcement on coastal construction and engineering projects to turnkey environmental protection.
Marine Services
Ports, marinas, and aquatic structures across France need protection, both during renovations and ahead of severe storms. TrapBags are stackable barriers that reinforce their strength.
Learn More »Emergency Management Crews
Every second counts during a weather emergency. Municipal, provincial, and departmental emergency services across the world use TrapBag barriers to reinforce their existing flood infrastructure and protect their communities.
Learn More »Coastal & Civil Engineering
Civil and coastal engineering organizations worldwide use TrapBag® barriers for shoreline infrastructure. The barriers have also stabilized sand dunes, protected regions prone to flash flooding, and defended coastal communities.
Learn More »Environmental Protection
For shoreline habitats like beaches, wetlands, and marshes, TrapBag® can also protect sensitive areas. They mitigate coastal flood damage and are less disruptive during flooding events in these low-lying areas.
Learn More »What's At Stake?
Shoreline Erosion on Both Coasts
Across France’s western, northern, and southern coasts, beaches are eroding due to severe storms and wave action that has persisted for thousands of years. These can make the historic beaches in Normandy, Brittany, and along the French Riviera prone to deteriorating and disappearing, especially with the effects of climate change.
Spring & Summer Flooding
Every year, metropolitan France experiences summer floods. There is also always an increased risk of flooding with spring snowmelt from the Pyrenees and the Alps.
However, these floods are becoming more severe due in part to climate change. With that, they’re becoming more life-threatening and damaging to highways, city buildings, and other infrastructure.
Aging Dikes & Other Infrastructure
As with many European countries, France is experiencing deteriorating infrastructure that was initially designed to last for a few decades following the end of World War II. However, as storms and annual flood events become more severe, France’s dikes, dams, and levees are experiencing increasing stress and deterioration.
These structures are increasingly likely to give way when they’re most needed. A broken levee can cost millions of euros in damage and potentially have deadly consequences.
Why Choose TrapBag?
-
Fast Deployment
With TrapBag, a small team consisting of just two individuals and someone operating a skid steer or small backhoe can complete a 100-foot (approximately 30-metre) barrier within a single hour.
Filling traditional sandbags is more labor-intensive and time-consuming. When every second counts, being able to deploy barriers quickly can make it easier to protect lives and infrastructure without putting crews at risk.
-
Reliable Strength
TrapBag is designed down to each thread in the fabric to hold back massive amounts of water pressure.
Each cell supports its neighbors when you fill it with sand, washed gravel, or other dense materials. This also helps it withstand localized damage if a single cell is compromised—unlike traditional sandbag walls, which collapse altogether when part of the barrier collapses.
-
Efficient Design
Each cell in a TrapBag flood barrier is designed with a pentagonal shape that concentrates 60% of the barrier’s mass in its lower half. This makes them easier to install and fill quickly during urgent jobs such as storms or predicted landslides.
-
Tried & Tested
Thousands of miles of TrapBag barriers have been installed for erosion and flood control on multiple continents by organizations ranging from waterfront resort properties to the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Sandbags have been a tried and true method of blocking flood waters for thousands of years. They’re inexpensive and relatively easy to stack. However, they’re labor-intensive and have a high margin of error that can lead to collapses when they’re needed most, especially compared to improved systems like TrapBag.
These barriers are designed to be filled with water and create enough weight and pressure to divert floodwaters away from buildings and structures. However, most water barriers aren’t more than a few feet tall and can’t withstand wave action. By contrast, TrapBag barriers are stackable and can be configured to various heights for different floodwater levels during both moderate and severe flooding events.
Floodgates and flood walls are a larger-scale form of commercial flood protection. Flood-prone communities use them to prevent damage from frequent flooding in particularly vulnerable areas.
Floodgates are also prohibitively expensive and labor-intensive. TrapBags can serve as temporary flood protection barriers to protect these areas during emergencies, just as well as a floodgate system for a fraction of the total cost.
