Hydra Barrier

Charlie The Yorkshire Terror

One year, soon after we moved into our townhouse, we had a colossal rainstorm. I drowned my Mitsubishi convertible on a street just outside our gated community and had to trudge home in the pouring rain. By the time I reached the house, the water in our street was so high I had to carry the Yorkie we had then to a safe place to do his business, or he’d have drowned.

A couple of storms ago, we had water come in under our garage door, so my partner and I invested in a couple of Hydra Barriers – the big yellow tubes you can see in the picture of our townhouse, just before we evacuated.

The yellow tubes are the Hydra Barriers

They take the place of sandbags, preventing rising water from getting into your home or garage. Since we’re only a mile or so inland, we’re always worried when the forecast calls for storm surges, so these make it easy to prepare. You just fill them up from the hose and drag them into place, and you’re done.

After the threat has passed, all you have to do is unplug the stopper and the water pours out—often all over you, however. Then you roll them up – they don’t take up much space—and store them until the next storm.

I don’t know if we were in danger of rising water because we evacuated, but we felt pretty confident because we had left these in place. Fortunately, one of our neighbors remained at home, and was able to clear the clogged storm drains. 

With all those storms still brewing out in the Atlantic, I thought I'd share these in case anyone else needs something similar.