Our Challenges
Disaster Pumps that Anticipate
Sudden Torrential Downpours of Rain and
Protect Lives with Powerful Drainage*1
In 2009, Kubota developed a hybrid pump that can operate from when rainwater begins to accumulate.
According to data*2 from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the frequency of sudden torrential downpours of rain and other types of rainfall exceeding 50 mm per hour has increased by 30% in the last 30 years. In recent years, the rainfall has also become more localized and concentrated. People should not be complacent when it comes to rainfall of this kind, even if there are no mountains or big rivers nearby. Especially in urban areas where the paved area of roads is increasing, it is difficult for rainwater to penetrate underground, and the amount being discharged into sewage lines is rapidly increasing. In addition to the sudden swelling of rivers and the flooding of roads and underpasses, flooding in underground spaces such as terminal station premises can cause extensive damage in a short time. The reason for this is that the amount of precipitation far exceeds the existing drainage capacity, and cannot cope with such inundations of rainwater. The key to protecting society is how quickly we can respond to the looming threat of sudden torrential downpours.
Kubota has been working on the development of emergency drainage pumps to reduce the risk of damage from sudden torrential downpours and various types of flood damage. In particular, its disaster pumps, which have greatly evolved in terms of drainage capacity, responsiveness, weight reduction and portability, have been installed in pump trucks in recent years, demonstrating their performance.
Our past achievements are still fresh in our minds, including the dispatch of trucks utilizing our pumps by the Japanese government to Thailand, where flooding was frequent, as well as heavy rainfall in July 2018 that hit many areas of Japan, especially western Japan, and again in July 2020, this time causing extensive damage in the Kyushu region.
The development of such pumps began with the standby pumps that were in use in the 1980s. In 2009, Kubota developed the Hu-BOMBA MAX, a pump that achieves even faster drainage and greatly improves responsiveness in light of the increasing frequency of localized torrential rainfall. This pump was a hybrid standby pump*3 that combined and evolved the newly developed technology with the standby pump technology of the air-water discharge switching system*4 that had been cultivated up to that point, meeting the need for quick drainage from lower water levels and preventing flood damage. River flooding and inundations are becoming more frequent throughout Japan due to abnormal weather. Kubota will use these disaster pump technologies, with which it has accumulated extensive knowledge and experience, to carry out a wide range of restoration activities in accordance with the environment and actual conditions of the affected cities and regions.
- *1Localized heavy rain, torrential rain, etc.
- *2Source: Press release about new traffic regulation standards to be piloted in response to sudden torrential downpours of rain" issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, June 23, 2015
- *3A pump that combines the air-water discharge switching method and the air-water mixing discharge method (a method that allows operation down to a lower water level by lowering the drainage volume through the introduction of air)
- *4A method that instantly shuts off pumping by introducing air
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