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Protecting City Hall with an Aquafence
It took a year for one of the main buildings in Indian Rocks Beach to reopen after Hurricane Helene. City hall took a beating. Now, the city stepped up it's flood protection with an Aquafence. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - Two years after Hurricane Helene slammed Florida's coastline, those who worked at Indian Rocks Beach City Hall have moved back into the building, and installed a large, temporary barrier to help protect the building from flood waters and storm surge.
Hurricane Helene forced
The backstory:
Hurricane Helene made landfall over Florida's Big Bend region as a powerful category 4 hurricane in September 2024. Its impact was widespread with flooding, storm surge, and damaging wind gusts. Those impacts caused water to force its way into Indian Rocks Beach City Hall. For more than a year, city staff had to work out of trailers while repairs were done inside the building.
What they're saying:
"We had water intrusion into our building couldn't operate," Indian Rocks Beach City Manager Ryan Henderson said. "And so we had to deploy trailers on site, and we worked out of those trailers for a year and the rehab that we had to go through on the building, the money we had put forth on getting the building operating again."
What is AquaFence?
Dig deeper:
AquaFence specializes in flood barriers and other protective systems. While based in Norway, its U.S. headquarters is in Tampa. Indian Rocks Beach purchased one of its flood walls, which can be quickly set up and deployed to help protect against hurricane threats, like rising floodwaters or storm surge.
How much did it cost?
By the numbers:
Henderson said Florida state representatives helped secure nearly $476,000 to help purchase the AquaFence, while the city contributed $378,000 – totaling more than $800,000.
Timeline:
The city received its AquaFence in August and set it up around city hall within 24 hours – and during what is typically one of the most active months of the Atlantic hurricane season. It will remain up for at least the next month, the city said.
During next year's hurricane season, which runs June 1 - November 30 each year, he said the city will discuss when to deploy it.
The Source: FOX 13's Kylie Jones talked with Indian Rocks Beach City Manager Ryan Henderson about the city's AquaFence purchase, impacts from Hurricane Helene in 2024, and how the fence would be used during future hurricane seasons.