Friday, January 31, 2020

Trump’s border wall, vulnerable to flash floods, needs large storm gates left open for months





Border wall construction continues outside Douglas, Ariz. Gaps in the new border fence indicate where washes and other construction challenges appear along the border. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Post)
The wall at the southern border likely will need hundreds of storm gates that must be kept open every summer, said officials, agents and engineers. The open, unmanned gates already have allowed smugglers and migrants to enter easily.

THE ABOVE STORY IS BEHIND A PAYWALL HERE IS A PORTION OF IT

Trump’s border wall collapsed in the wind — now questions raised about what happens when it rainsJanuary 30, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris


Just this week a part of President Donald Trump’s border wall collapsed under heavy winds. It highlighted one of the obstacles to Trump’s Mexico border barrier.

Ironically, the threat of climate change will be brutal on Trump’s wall. Flash flooding, high winds, hurricanes and other storms, and dramatic swings in temperature can ultimately make the wall more susceptible to issues.

The Washington Post reported that the Trump border barrier project will require the installation of hundreds of large storm gates that will remain open for months every summer to keep the border wall from being damaged or falling over.

Lee Baiza, who was previously the park superintendent for the Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument explained that the president’s border project will further increase the risk for flood damage, because the work crews have loosened dirt, plants and rock along the road, which can be more easily carried away in floodwaters.

“It’s a fragile environment, so if you go drive across that country you will loosen up the soil and brush,” the Post quoted Baiza. “The more activity, the more it gets run over, the more debris you create.”

“Another section of border barrier toppled in 2014 near Nogales, Ariz., when U.S. agents failed to open the floodgates in time, sending mud and stones into nearby homes,” the report explained. “And in 2008, two people in the Mexican city of Nogales, just across the border, were killed in catastrophic flash floods that inflicted millions of dollars in damage, with some of the blame falling on a Border Patrol project that placed bars into cross-border culverts intended to block illegal crossings.”

Having open gates to protect against flooding for months on end poses questions about the function of the wall itself. Read the full report from the Washington Post


A newly-built chunk of Trump's new border wall blew over in heavy wind and landed in Mexico
insider@insider.com (Rosie Perper), Business Insider•January 29, 2020

Part of Trump's new border wall blew over into Mexico

VIDEO https://news.yahoo.com/video/part-trumps-border-wall-blew-130039914.html
The fallen length of wall was around 130 feet 



A portion of President Donald Trump's border wall blew over onto the Mexican side due to strong winds, according to NBC News-affiliate KYMA.

Video of the event showed the border wall section swaying in the wind as crews tried to stabilize it.

The section of the wall was under construction as part of Trump's signature policy. It replaced existing wall rather than extending the overall coverage any further.


A Customs and Border Protection agent told CNN that the wall was newly installed and had been set in concrete that had not yet cured.


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A portion of President Donald Trump's border wall blew in strong winds and fell into Mexico, according to NBC News-affiliate KYMA.

The border wall collapsed around midday local time on Wednesday, and landed on a row of trees, according to police in Mexicali, a town on the Mexico-California border.
 

Mexicali map Google Maps/Business Insider

The fallen length of wall was around 130 feet long.

Agent Carlos Pitones of the Customs and Border Protection sector in El Centro, California, told CNN that the wall was newly installed and had been set in concrete that had not yet hardened.

According to CNN, the National Weather Service recorded wind gusts up to 37 mph when the wall fell down.

Video showed the border wall section swaying in the wind as crews tried to stabilize it.

—Qasim Rashid for Congress (@QasimRashid) January 30, 2020

It was being put up as part of Trump's signature policy to reinforce and extend the physical barrier diving Mexico from the US.

His original ambition to swiftly erect a full new barrier along the entire 1,954-mile border has been repeatedly scaled back.

This section of wall was being built to replace a part of the border that already exists.

According to KYMA, nobody appears to have been hurt by the collapse.

In January, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was preparing to divert $7.2 billion from the Pentagon's budget to pay for wall-building.

Trump replaced a decaying portion of the border partition with a 14-mile stretch of 18- to 30-foot slatted fence in September.

When Trump visited the $147-million border wall replacement project in Otay Mesa, California, he called the design "amazing" and signed his name in Sharpie pen.

But Trump's border plans have faced criticism both for their cost and effectiveness.

A video that went viral in December showed people easily sliding down the border wall slats like a fireman's pole before running away as a Border Patrol vehicle pulls up.

Other videos have emerged showing people as young as eight-years-old scaling an 18-foot replica of the wall. One man was able to climb while juggling.

Read the original article on Business Insider


Trump border wall

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