News : Why the Hesco flood barriers remain in place

We wish to give a quick update on the HESCO barriers that continue to be deployed around the fire station and the electric utility buildings. There may be some misleading information circulating in the community concerning the cost of the barriers and the reasons for leaving them up. We would like to clear any misunderstanding on the cost or the continued use of the HESCOs.

As we have seen throughout the month of June, rainfall has been significant throughout northeast Iowa. Flooding is expected in the Wapsipinicon river basin, and we can see that the Cedar River has also risen with the increased rainfall. The City of Vinton and the Vinton Municipal Electric Utility knew there would continue to be significant rain in June, and it was for this reason the decision was made to leave the barriers in place at least through the month of June. We would rather deal with the inconvenience for now instead of cleaning up after a possible major flooding event.

We would also like to clarify the cost of the barriers. The City and VMEU have a total of 430 HESCO barriers. The cost for each of the barriers was about $412, for a total cost of $177,160. Only about a fourth of the total count of the barriers was deployed during this current flood preparation.

We anticipate being able to save and reuse a majority, if not all, of the barriers that you now see on 2nd Avenue and 2nd Street. VMEU worked to put together a metal bar with chains that will lift the barriers straight up, releasing the sand. The barriers will then be folded up (after ensuring they are completely dry) and the street department will pick up the sand and return it to the stockpile on the southwest part of the city for later use.

If there is any more information that we can provide to help clarify this information, please call Vinton City Coordinator, Andy Lent at 472-4707 or VMEU General Manager Rick Ohrt at 472-4813.

Andy Lent Rick Ohrt

Vinton City Coordinator VMEU General Manager