A tiger dam is one of many flood-mitigation strategies used by the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary last week. The dam is a series of water-filled tubes that create a barrier over a metre in height. The dam must be placed on completely flat ground, and anchored into the pavement at regular intervals along the length of the dam.
In Grand Forks, the RDKB used over a kilometre of dam along Riverside Drive and 72nd Street. Several businesses and homes were located on the outside of the tiger dam during this time, which Emergency Operations Centre director Chris Marsh said was a difficult but necessary decision, and volunteers gathered in the area on Thursday and Friday to sandbag buildings on the outside side of the dam. Some local businesses have smaller versions of these dams which were in use around their individual buildings.
Ultimately, the predicted second peak did not reach as high as anticipated and the tiger dam was not needed to protect the downtown from floodwater. It is being disassembled this week.
