NEWS

In October 2023, the UK was hit by Storm Babet, where in Lincolnshire it resulted in damage to properties and the evacuation of residents in some areas. In a village just south of Lincoln the Environment Agency has said that about 70 homes had been evacuated after 2 discrete landslips on the dry side of a flood embankment – this required emergency earthworks monitoring to ensure the safety of the local population and ensure the embankment wasn’t damaged further. 

Central Alliance was contracted by Jacksons Civil Engineering on behalf of the Environment Agency to install an emergency earthworks monitoring system, made up of tilt meters, utilising a series of Geosense Trixial Tilt Sensors, along the crest of the embankment to monitor further movement and 2 water level sensors (installing Keller Small Diameter Level Sensors, which have a 30m range); one in the flood plain of the main channel to detect rapid drops in water level, which could suggest a failure when the river is outside of its normal path, and the second in a drainage channel on the “dry” side to monitor any sharp rises in water level that could indicate another failure of the embankment. The data is then made available via “Sight Automation” for downloading and checking. Alarms are also triggered when thresholds are met, indicating the banks have failed, or the river has reached a certain height – allowing engineering works or inspections to be carried out.

For the data to be sent from site to the portal we utilise Internet of Things telemetry. Cutting edge technologies offer unparalleled advantages in terms of collection, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. They allow us to install equipment in remote locations with poor power connectivity and network coverage and keep the systems active throughout the year. Our systems are powered by small solar panels installed with the equipment on site, these can then supply enough power to keep the batteries fully charged and operational – with alarms activated when batteries drop below certain thresholds..