By its nature, the construction industry is dependent on weather. Construction teams often work outdoors and many aspects of project planning is determined by local weather forecasts. Extreme weather can disrupt projects considerably. Because weather is becoming more extreme and less predictable, developing strategies through lessons learned is important in construction.
During the construction of a new stormwater detention system on a large retail project, the primary storm sewer line serving the site was disconnected to allow for installation of the detention system. This meant plugging the existing storm structure upstream of the new system and bypass pumping to an adjacent downstream manhole.
Stormwater detention system construction.
On the Saturday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend, an unpredicted, heavy storm dumped several inches of rain on the site in only a few hours. The upstream storm structure was plugged to allow for bypassing of the detention system. Weather forecasts predicted no rainfall for the weekend, so the bypass pump was disconnected and moved off site. As rain fell, it quickly overwhelmed the plugged storm structure and upstream pipe structures which served as drainage for the shopping center parking lot.
Water quickly backed up into the parking area and flooded an adjacent open excavation where waterproofing was taking place. Rented pumps got the flooding under control the following morning. Once the issue was resolved, the construction team conducted a review of the lessons learned by this incident and developed a plan to avoid future storm-related issues.
In contrast, forecasts predicted extreme wind and rainfall by Hurricane Florence just two weeks later. The newly developed severe weather plan provided an excellent backdrop to properly prepare for impending severe weather. Before the storm hit, the KBS team, working in conjunction with the owner, implemented the plan for mitigating, responding to and handling storm-related damage.
With the ongoing detention system construction, the team developed a plan to maintain stormwater drainage, ensured that the proper equipment and pumps were onsite and representatives from each member of the team were on standby to deal with any evolving issues. In addition to stormwater concerns, the team took care to prepare the site by restraining loose materials, rolling up the windscreen on the perimeter construction fence to prevent potential damage to the fence and passersby and stabilizing banks and excavations.
In the end, Hurricane Florence did not impact Richmond to the extent expected, but the proactivity of the team ensured severe weather would have minimal impact to the site. Weather events are difficult to predict and often come at unexpected times, but a proactive planning and communication is the key to making construction sites storm-ready. That way, when extreme weather arises, the team is well-organized and can deal with the emergency effectively.
