With the recent increase in flooding nationwide, the main concern of the affected areas is the supply of barriers to hold off the flooding. Providing some of this supply is the Hammond-based company HESCO Bastion USA.
Originally started in the United Kingdom to provide an alternative sandbag type barrier to the military, HESCO-USA produces civilian-based barriers to be used in flooding. Using the same style of barrier, HESCO-USA provides durable flood protection throughout the nation with their “Concertainer” barrier series.
According to HESCO-USA’s Web site the concertainer series design employs a cell-like framework, each unit able to contain a considerable amount of sand, gravel or rock. They can be used either temporarily or for a long term.
“Flood protection was always a strong application for the Concertainer units, but we really started to gain recognition after the 2008 ‘500 Year Flood’ in Iowa,” said Jared Lyons, director of accounting at HESCO-USA. The flooding occurred in June of 2008 when the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa swelled up and overflowed the levees and banks, reaching 500-year record flood levels.
“Our units were used by the University of Iowa and a number of other entities in and around Iowa City,” said Lyons. “Since that time we have been very busy during the different flood unit.”
In addition to being a local business, HESCO USA also is host to Southeastern alumni.
“We do have a number of alumni that work in different positions,” said Lyons. “The ones that come to mind are a recently hired SLU Alum who is our office manager, I have a new alumnus (May ‘11) that was on the Southeastern basketball team that is a key part of our production team and I went to Southeastern for my undergrad and graduate America.”