Substantive new efforts to hold back the raging waters of Lake Michigan and the Black River Channel will be employed temporarily in the community of South Haven as the city prepares for implementation of HESCO barriers in strategic locations along the waterfront.
City officials say that the City of South Haven recently purchased the HESCO barriers for shoreline protection and flooding control at the City’s high priority infrastructure locations. The barriers are in the process of being installed at the Waste Water Treatment Plant and the Water Treatment Plant/South Beach.
For South Beach erosion control, the city plans to deploy 360 feet of the barriers at the parking lot at the base of Water Street, another 476 linear feet of barricade southward from there, and to anchor the barricades 10-feet into the dunes at the south end of the park.
For Waste Water Treatment Plant flood control at Dunkley Avenue along the Black River Channel, plans are to strategically place a total of 561 feet of the barricades at points surrounding the facility in five different locations in a bid to mitigate the frustrations of ongoing flooding there due to record levels on Lake Michigan.
HESCO is a world leader and innovator in the design and manufacture of rapidly deployable barrier systems. It was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in the United Kingdom, but has operations in both South Carolina and Washington.
HESCO barriers employ an innovative wire-mesh gabion system, with geotextile lining and rapid deployment features, and has been acknowledged as the most significant development in field fortification since WWII.
Public Works officials in South Haven say that it is the city’s plan to leave the HESCO barriers in place until the high waters of Lake Michigan subside.
The image of HESCO barricades being employed in the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market is from the archives at HESCO barricade company, and is for illustration purposes only. It does not depict actual structures in South Haven.
