Car-floating sheets selling well to cope with increasing flood risk in Japan

If you can’t beat them, float on them.

As in many corners of the globe, Japan has been putting up with an increasing number of previously rare weather-related natural disasters.

One of the more surprising was the widespread flooding around Chiba after torrential rains fell from a line of squall clouds that inexplicably stopped moving for a while. ▼ Many people were caught while out driving and had to abandon their cars on the street after the water caused them to stall.

In addition to 13 deaths, the amount of damage it caused was massive.

Some estimates say over 10,000 vehicles were damaged, many beyond repair, from being completely submerged in filthy water.

With such valuable property at risk of becoming useless at any moment from increasingly unpredictable weather, many people are searching for ways to protect their cars from flooding.

One such way appeared in the form of SAM-CS (“Sam Car Sheet”).

SAM-CS works by covering your car in plastic sheets that allow the car to float when flooding occurs.

It takes about 10 minutes to set up and involves parking your car on the bottom sheet, which fastens to the sides with suction cups.

Then, another sheet goes over top to block rain from entering.

There’s also an optional, but highly recommended, set of straps that prevent the car from floating away or into something else that would cause damage.

The product costs 88,000 yen ($560) for a mid-sized car , which seems like a lot for some plastic sheets but is a sound investment compared to the cost of repairing or losing a car.

SAM-CS was originally developed back in 2024, at which time its maker, Onoda Sangyo, was only getting about two inquiries a month.

But after the Chiba flooding, they’ve gotten 30 calls in the past two weeks.