When Hurricane Harvey unleashed unprecedented and catastrophic flooding in August 2017, thousands of people in the Houston metropolitan area and Southeast Texas rushed to call 911. To make matters worse, well over 20,000 calls for help were from residents stranded on their rooftops.
This horrific scenario is all-too common when natural disasters strike. Harvey is tied with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, causing $125 Billion (USD) in damage and numerous fatalities.
It is now a known fact that natural disasters are on the rise around the globe, but don’t despair, a group of innovative entrepreneurs have come to the rescue.
Meet ARK, the world’s biggest and baddest survival life raft that just launched on the market.
Developed by Rooftop Liferafts in Vancouver, BC, this device mounts to any building’s exterior vertical cladding, and with the press of a button the survival-ready raft is deployed within seconds. Onboard, passengers have access to the necessary survival goods to withstand extreme elements, and they are traceable, thanks to its onboard GPS tracking system and other essential items to keep your family safe.
Robert Travis, who experienced the devastating forest fires in Fort McMurray, Alberta, in 2016, and the Alberta High River Floods seven years ago, came up with the idea for ARK when he moved into his Vancouver home that was near a floodplain.
“The idea of having an inflatable raft on the second floor of our home was always on my mind, so I assembled a team, and we got to work developing a life raft that will take urban flood protection to a whole new level,” says Travis. “After three years of hard work, we are thrilled to say that ARK is here to fulfill a need: that is, to help save lives.”
ARK, which is a CO2 deployed unit, is now getting interest from schools, hospitals, businesses, communities, and even the military, and will retail for $3200 (USD – starting price). The new device – stylish, sporty, and durable in every sense – will also greatly appeal to homeowners who live near floodplains, and in areas prone to hurricanes.
This first-of-its-kind life raft is manufactured by Rooftop Liferafts, having collaborated with respected marine industry players like Survitech and Zodiac. Many prototypes over the past few years have been developed with the help from marine, safety, and whitewater rafting specialists. Additionally, the product will help search and rescue organizations when flooding occurs as they will be better able to locate distraught citizens.
“ARK is not just a raft,” explains Alexander Carey, who helped developed the new product.
“There’s an engineered deployment system, there’s an onboard GPS locating system – ARK has it all to help people survive, and it will help air and ground rescue teams find people quicker and help bring them to safety,” adds Carey.
To stay safe during a flooding, make sure you pre-order the best damn life raft ever.
ARK is an IdeaPros Certified Partner. Using an exhaustive screening process, IdeaPros handpicks less than 2% of the ideas presented to it by brilliant entrepreneurs. If chosen, an entrepreneur can rely on IdeaPros managing every step of the creative evolution, cultivating and nurturing great ideas through its unique, agile product development process, using real-world target customer feedback to create compelling products that people will buy on a large-scale basis. IdeaPros has partnered with scores of entrepreneurs in the U.S., Canada, and around the world. Its development strategy, managed by Frederick Cary, a world-renown executive, enables entrepreneurs to maximize their probability of success by using a proven set of processes developed over decades of company building. Visit IdeaPros and discover how they are changing the world, one product at a time.
Hurricane Katrina proved that this is a necessary and this could have saved people in the Indonesian tsunami. I grew up in florida and it seams that 🌀 hurricanes are getting more and more frequent.
Why not just buy a raft and keep it in your home? Having a raft in a fixed spot on the side of your home seems a bit silly. Flood waters are unpredictable, what happens if a tree or something has floated up to where it would be deployed and is blocking its release? If you had one in your home, say in an upstairs closet, you could throw it out whatever window is the best at the time. Also, what is protecting the raft as it sits in a metal box for years unused on the side of your home? Surely being exposed to the elements, animals, etc all that time can’t be good for it? This just seems a bit silly and expensive
Someone watched a bit too much A-Team when they were a kid. Here’s what will actually happen: thieves climbed up three stories of balconies to steal my $150 bike, $4,000 worth of gear strapped to the side of your house completely unsecured isn’t going to last long.
So, there’s a chute that opens up and deploys a raft? And then what? You get your family to climb out a window, down a ladder I assume, and into a raft during a tsunami/hurricane/storm? So you and your family can be sucked back out to sea or overturned in the water?
Pretty sure this unit is secured and has a key fob set up
It’s also teetered to your home as I see in the video. Also I think that standing on your roof doesn’t seem like a safe option …. if you can even get to your roof. Personally as a mother of children if I had the option this would be it as I could deploy it myself with a baby in hand also the idea that search and rescue could find me quicker makes me more at ease.
Well then Ms Nelson, from a father to a mother, I’ll give you some advice.
This is an absolutely terrible idea. I am really interested in survivalist type situations, and I do a lot of research. I read all the articles and watch all the shows, I’m not saying I’m an expert but I’ve gathered a lot of information. Honestly, I’m sorry to the investors, but this is an absolutely awful idea.
The last thing I want to see is any mother holding onto a baby while climbing out a window into a raft. If you look on-line, you can buy one of these exact rafts for a third of this over inflated price, also gps systems are not very expensive at all. If you are concerned with flooding, then go buy the raft, put it in an upstairs closet, and it will be a hundred times easier for you if disaster strikes.
You will have the convenience of using the raft out of whatever window is easiest. Plus, if flood waters don’t get to an optimal depth outside your home to use this raft-shute-out the window thing, then you can deploy it from directly outside your home and get you and your family in.
I’m not saying that getting onto your roof is a good idea, I’m saying this is a ludicrous invention. I’m not even sure how it got to this stage without a friend or family member with a bit of common sense interjecting. I’m saying anyone would be much better off saving themselves thousands and just buying the boat without the unnecessary contraption.
Hope you are well in the world
This is a brilliant invention!! Keep in mind – a quality product will help you survive after flooding from a hurricane or mass rain fall. No one wants to stay in a cheaply made raft with gators running free, and no one wants their family in a cheaply made raft with downed power lines while floating over cars and houses. ARK (and I have done my research) is a first of its kind. The pricing point is sound too. This lasts forever – just look at those who helped make it. I am buying two for both my properties. Job well done !!!
This is stupid. Y’all get your families to jump from a window into flood waters, we’ll be inside safe and warm. Sounds like something my drunk brother and his idiot friends would come up with. “Hey Steve, know what would be cool hu hu hu”. I agree with the other people here just go buy a raft if you’re that worried. How much is installation gonna cost me? Will my house insurance cover me if something goes wrong? What happens if my idiot kids throw a ball at it and it does its thing? My husband showed me this and I said if you ever make me climb out a window during a flood and storm that’s the last time you are ever climbing into bed with me