Patent ID: 8388266

Claim:
Apparatus for stabilizing a leak in a dam or a levee, which comprises: a flexible sheet composed of solid, unwoven silicone rubber capable of withstanding hydrostatic water pressure in a body of water without rupturing; the flexible sheet being manipulatable for positioning breach-sealable portions of the sheet over a breach in the dam or the levee into which the leak could flow; the silicone rubber of the flexible sheet being an inorganic material which maintains consistent flexibility and resilience when subjected to temperatures within a range from negative 100° C. to positive 316° C.; at least a portion of the flexible sheet being sufficiently supple to allow the at least a portion of the flexible sheet, when placed over the breach in the dam or levee, to be urged into, and deform about, the breach, under the hydrostatic pressure of the body of water, to seal the breach and preclude a leak of the water from the body of water into the breach; the flexible sheet being self-supporting, and free, within the flexible sheet, of any physical support structure independent of the silicone rubber of the flexible sheet: and the silicone rubber of the flexible sheet having a density and weight sufficient to allow the flexible sheet to sink, on its own, when placed into the body of water.