Can You Use An AquaFence To Protect Your Residential Property From Flooding?

Hurricane Helene thrust AquaFence, a manufacturer of made-to-measure reusable flood barriers, into the spotlight after Tampa General Hospital protected their Level 1 trauma facility with the company's 9-foot FloodWall. On the ABC News TikTok, over 15 million viewers marveled at the interlinked fence's ability to protect against a 15-foot storm surge. Now homeowners wonder if they can use AquaFence to make sure their home is safe from a flood. While AquaFence offers several robust modular flooding protection products, they are mainly only for commercial, municipal and industrial properties with limited access to residential properties. The manufacturing and design for homeowners is cost-prohibitive, as the company states on their Contact Us page: "Our custom flood protection solutions require significant engineering hours to design for each site, often making them unaffordable for single-family homes."

With FloodWall, as well as the company's other product options, AquaFence specializes in rapidly-deployed flood systems tailor-made for the user. Yet the products' custom design and manufacturing are costly and time-consuming, so the company largely focuses on commercial or municipal contracts, such as Tampa General's $1 million FloodWall. There's good news, however, as homeowners may be able to eventually purchase a flood barrier product for their homes. Speaking to WTSP Tampa Bay, Thomas Briedis, President of AquaFence USA, says the company is currently working on residential AquaFence products, and anticipates a cost of $20,000 to homeowners when available. For now, you may inquire about buying an AquaFence for a residential property by doing the following.

Do you want to buy an AquaFence for your home? While you can't just order one from the website, interested homeowners can add their home to the AquaFence waitlist by filling out the company's contact form under Residential Projects. AquaFence hopes that with the gathered information, they can "cluster nearby properties and optimize resource allocation to areas with the greatest need, allowing us to provide high-performance systems at an affordable price." You can also provide your information if you belong to a neighborhood group or a home owner's association (HOA) that wants to invest in flood mitigation for multiple properties, the company adds. 

If you want to be proactive against floods, determine if you need flood insurance for your home and purchase a policy to guard against damage, as standard homeowner's insurance doesn't include flooding coverage. You can also invest in commercially-available flooding protection options such as Quick Dam Barrier Water Flood Dam Bags, water-activated 3.5-inch rising bags that can help divert water away into storm drains and other exits.