Study stresses threat Norfolk faces from flooding

NORFOLK

When Deborah Miller bought her Colonial Place home almost 30 years ago, she had no idea that nor’easters and hurricanes would leave her with property damages totaling $100,000.

She raised her furniture on blocks, moved her car to higher ground and watched as water inched up through her floor vents.

Hurricane Isabel sent 21 inches of water into the yard in 2003. The last nor’easter was even worse, she said.

A recent study by an environmental group has highlighted a reality Miller – and city officials – know all too well:

Without an extensive levee system, Norfolk could be mostly underwater in less than 90 years.

The report by the Natural Resources Defense Council is just another example of why the city needs to start taking serious action now, said Skip Stiles, executive director of Wetlands Watch, a Norfolk-based environmental group.

“You can see the impacts now,” he said. “It’s going to keep getting worse and worse.”

City officials acknowledge the need for a long-term solution to flooding but say it will be at least a year before they can apply for the necessary federal funding and even longer before major improvements could begin.

Alice Kelly, assistant director of Norfolk Public Works, said the delay isn’t due to a lack of concern.

“These things take time, and we need good data and studies,” she said. “In the meantime, we’re doing what we can to fix drainage and help folks.”

The city’s annual budget for fixing neighborhood flooding problems is about $3 million, Kelly said.

To manage temporary flooding from rain, the city tries to maintain its extensive drainage systems. But when precipitation flooding and tidal flooding coincide, as in a nor’easter, the same pipes that should carry rainwater out bring tidewater in.

In May, public works officials told the City Council that serious improvements in flood management would cost $130 million to $260 million.

Fugro Consultants Inc., a Netherlands-based firm hired by the city in 2007 to come up with a plan for flooding, suggested the city invest in development requirements – like minimum heights for garages – public education and costly infrastructure improvements such as flood walls and pump stations.

Over the years, several neighborhoods – the Hague, Pretty Lake, Mason Creek, Spartan Village and Ohio Creek – have been hit hard by flooding.

In East Ocean View, Fugro’s study estimated that 7,737 homes and businesses are affected by flooding. In the Mason Creek area, the number is 6,293.

Flooding at the Hague, which could cost $50 million to $100 million to fix, affects 1,512 properties. In Ohio Creek and Spartan Village, the study estimates that 584 properties have felt the effects of flooding. Residents there have lost their cars, furniture and possessions, and have endured rotting drywall and electrical short-circuiting.

In the past, Kelly said, Norfolk was able to secure $3.5 million in federal funds to help raise homes over the course of 10 years. Homeowners share some of the cost, she said. So far, the city has raised about 25 properties, including Miller’s.

Miller had to move out of her house while it was raised about 4 feet, but the peace of mind was worth it, she said. It was high enough to stop about 24 inches of water from coming into her home in the 2009 nor’easter.

“It was just such a relief,” she said.

Norfolk has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding through Federal Emergency Management Agency grants in the past, but the money is available only after the state declares an emergency.

The previous money spent by the city and secured through grants for flooding pales in comparison to the amount needed now. However, applying for hundreds of millions of dollars takes time, Kelly said.

The city is conducting a study to better determine how much Fugro’s proposals would cost. Kelly said her department is trying to get the Army Corps of Engineers to fund some of the study, which could take a year to complete and is the first step in applying for federal funds.

Stiles said he knows preventive measures to handle flooding and sea level rise will be “whoppingly expensive,” but “the cost of doing nothing is astronomical.”

He points to insurance companies refusing to write new policies in the region and an upcoming Department of Defense study looking into the vulnerability of the Navy to sea-level rise.

“There’s a whole lot at stake for Hampton Roads,” he said.

Sarah Hutchins, (757) 446-2326, sarah.hutchins@pilotonline.com