BLOBEL Environmental Engineering  recently supplied and installed a manual flood barrier system BL/HDS at the Lake Placid Tourist Park in Cairns. The flood gate was designed to protect more than 400 homes in low-lying areas around the Barron River at Lake Placid and is part of a lager flood mitigation scheme conducted by Cairns Regional Council.

The flood barrier system BL/HDS protects the Lake Placid Caravan Park in the event of a flood and upon warning from the Bureau of Meteorology the flood gate will be erected and the Caravan Park entrance will be sealed off and protected from flood waters.

The Flood Barrier System BL/HDS features recessed Stainless Steel corner posts, a removable centre post and aluminum panels. The flood barrier system is entirely demountable making it an invisible flood protection wall. The permanently installed components of the flood protection system, e.g. recessed flood barrier posts, are vandalism safe.

Manufacturer of the manual flood barrier system, Blobel Environmental Engineering, conducted the training session which involved Cairns Regional Council disaster management staff, SES representatives and Lake Placid Caravan Park employees learning how to erect the flood barrier gates.

Cr Sno Bonneau said the gates are made of a set of stacked aluminium planks that will seal off the driveway entrance to the caravan park. The planks will form a link in a barrier wall that will stop flood water from flowing into the caravan park and nearby properties during the wet season.

"I understand that the gates are easy to install and officers need only to be familiarised with the system," Cr Bonneau said.

"They will be erected when the Bureau of Meteorology predicts the Barron River will flood based on readings of river levels on the Tableland.

"These gates are an important component of the flood mitigation scheme designed to protect more than 400 homes in low-lying areas around the Barron River at Lake Placid, Kamerunga and Caravonica."