Real Flood Insurance, Saving Life and Property

Dear Think Tank Members

I am going to try to paint a narrative of my idea. Imagine a home along the Mississippi. The waters of the river start to over run it's banks and the water heads toward the home. As the water approaches the home a pump starts up to pump the water into a large bladder or bladders that surround the home. As the bladder fills it creates a barrier between the water and the home. Thus saving the home from the flooding waters. Now after the water has receded the pump will start the opposite motion and pump the water out of the bladder so that it lies flat on the cement footing that it's attached to buried in the ground around the home. At this point the bladder and footing would be covered back up and be ready for the next time the waters of the river tried to flood this home. There is also a problem with clean drinking water during a flood and I believe that there could also be a filtration system behind the barrier that could filtrate the water in the bladder so that people could then have that water for their use. I believe that this strategy could also be used around multiple homes. It could be used around whole blocks of homes in flood plain areas. Of course there is some engineering that needs to be done as to the thickness of the bladders and how to tether them so they do not move from the pressure of the water being pushed against them but that can all be done fairly easy.

I hope that you will consider this strategy in helping to prevent the destruction of property.

With much Hope

Michael David Nelson