Firm’s sandless sandbags head for Nigeria

Nigeria can be badly affected by torrential rain and last year the worst floods in more than 50 years killed 363 people and forced more than two million Nigerians to flee their homes.

Huddersfield-based Environmental Defence Systems has appointed Nigerian-based Regal Impex to sell its pioneering FloodSax sandless sandbags.

Floodsax contain a super-absorbent polymer that causes the bags to inflate when they come into contact with water.

Once they absorb the water they transform from large ‘pillowcases’ to become as tough and heavy as sandbags.

As they are lightweight they can be taken quickly to the scene of a flood unlike sandbags which need huge amounts of manpower to move and deploy.

Regal Impex will become the exclusive distributor for Floodsax in Nigeria and English-speaking West African countries.

The firm specialises in safety, rescue and security solutions in Nigeria and West Africa and sells to emergency management agencies, environmental protection agencies and fire departments.

Environmental Defence Systems’s managing director Richard Bailey said Floodsax will be sold to Governments, businesses and private individuals.

Regal Impex has a presence in London so it was a natural choice for the firm.

“They’re a really good company,” said Mr Bailey. “It took us a while to find the right distributor. This is working out well and we’ve jumped through all the hoops with the export laws. We’ve entered into a partnership with the people at Regal Impex. They are an absolute pleasure to deal with.”

The first container is due to land shortly and will contain 14,000 units.

Regal Impex believes there will be demand for around 10 containers in the first year, which means sales of 140,000 units.

Mr Bailey estimates the group could make sales of over £1m in the first year in Nigeria.

In the UK, FloodSax sell for £159 for a case of 20 in builders’ merchants.

Nigeria has two seasons – the dry season and the rainy season and when it rains, it is often torrential.

If the rain falls on bone hard ground the result is devastating flash floods.

The southern part of the country is the hardest hit due to monsoons originating from the South Atlantic Ocean.

“FloodSax are particularly useful in coastal and flood prone areas. Ineffective drainage and coastal encroachment has made the spate of flooding in Nigeria more acute in recent years,” said Mr Bailey.

“It’s hard to believe how heavy and abundant the rainfall in the southern part of Nigeria can be and some areas can get almost 80 inches of rain a year. In the coastal region around the Niger Delta it can be double that.”

Nigeria has two rainfall peaks with the first rainy season starting around March, peaking in June and lasting to the end of July. There is a short dry break in August before the rains are back in early September and last until mid October with the heaviest rainfall expected towards the end of September.

There is then a long dry season until March with the driest months from early December until late February.

“Nigeria is far more affluent than people think and businesses are doing well trading with countries overseas. They are now actively looking for solutions to their flooding problems,” said Mr Bailey.

The climate differs in other parts of Nigeria. The capital city, Abuja, which is in central Nigeria, gets 60 inches of rain a year.

“Insurance companies don’t want to fork out any more to pay for flood damage. The news is look after yourself, look after your own property,” said Mr Bailey.

Environmental Defence Systems already exports to Australia, Singapore, Thailand, the Middle East, Switzerland, Germany, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, the US, South America and India.

Countries worldwide are being devastated by floods.

In the UK more than 5.5 million – or one in six properties – are at risk of flooding. The semi-porous inner liner within FloodSax contains gelling polymer which absorbs water to become taut in three minutes. They are designed to mould into doorways to keep flood water out

They are lightweight and each one ways 200 grams or seven ounces (the same weight as half a small bag of sugar) before they are activated.

They are manufactured and tested in the UK and are biodegradable so they can be dumped in landfill sites. Once flooding subsides they can be used to soak up the filthy floodwater.

To rescue after mains pipe burst

Floodsax recently saved thousands of pounds of damage and 2,000 water customers from having their supply cut off after a mains pipe burst in Liverpool.

FloodSax were used to divert a raging torrent of flood water away from the buildings.

Mark Tait, network team leader for United Utilities in central and south Liverpool, said: “Using FloodSax meant we could deal with a potential disaster in a safe and timely executed manner without one call from a customer about disruption.”