Clr Theresa Coull from Moray Council in Scotland FloodSax are highly effective at keeping filthy floodwater out of homes and businesses

Scottish council to provide FloodSax alternative sandbags at cost price to residents to prevent the misery of flooding

A Scottish council is to provide FloodSax alternative sandbags at cost price to help residents protect their homes from flooding.

Moray Council has invested £20,000 in FloodSax and other anti-flood products such as floodgates and vent guards to help people living in its area to protect their homes and businesses from flooding in 2022.

The new scheme called Property Level Protection (PLP) sees the council buying a stock of these products and offering them to residents at risk of flooding at cost price, which could be up to 15% to 20% less than full price.

Clr Theresa Coull, vice-chair of the Economic Development and Infrastructure Services Committee at Moray Council, said: “Spending £20,000 initially on this is a drop in the ocean compared to the potential cost of future flooding events and supporting our residents to protect their property is a priority for the council.

“I would encourage residents in properties at risk of flooding to purchase these products from the council when they become available and are offered next year.”

Several councils across the UK already use FloodSax including Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire, Derbyshire County Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council in Wales, Gosport Borough Council in Hampshire, Forest of Dean District Council in Gloucestershire and Sandwell Council and Solihull Council in the West Midlands.

Flooding is the greatest natural disaster risk in the UK with an estimated 1 in 6 properties in England and Wales, 1 in 11 properties in Scotland and 1 in 34 properties in Northern Ireland now at risk of flooding. Six of the 10 wettest years on record have occurred since 1998 so climate change can be seen to be having a major impact on this. 

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) the average claim for a flooded business is £70,000 – that’s seven times higher than the average non flood claim which is around £11,500.

The average costs of flooding claim on home insurance is around £32,000 so spending a few pounds on flood protection can save a massive amount of cost and human misery.

FloodSax are a multi-use anti-flooding device and resemble a large pillowcase until they come into contact with water. They then absorb up to 20 litres within 8 minutes which sees them miraculously transformed into instant sandbags, but without the sand.

This makes them ideal for flood prevention, flood protection and flood mitigation.

In their dry state they are vacuum-packed so are space-saving to store and quick and easy to deploy. When dry, FloodSax are thin with a large surface area so are ideal to soak up drips, leaks and spills indoors in hard-to-reach places such as beneath boilers, below radiators and underneath pipes.