The City of Virginia Beach, like many coastal communities, is experiencing more frequent flooding due to sea level rise, increased storm intensity, and aging infrastructure. These issues, coupled with tidal impacts and low elevations, have resulted in severe flooding in portions of the City. Hurricane Matthew (2016) resulted in the worst structural flooding the City has ever experienced. As a result, the City embarked upon an extensive, multi-year flood mitigation improvement program. The goal is to increase resiliency to future storms, mitigate structural flooding, and improve roadway accessibility .
The key to flood mitigation is managing the water levels below flood stage, while not causing adverse impacts downstream. Due to the nature of the project area (i.e., low elevations, tidal influence, and old infrastructure), there is not a single solution that can be implemented to address the issues. A combination of complementary infrastructure improvements is required to achieve the maximum flood mitigation benefit. Improvements include two large stormwater pump stations, tide gates (three locations), additional storage (430 ac-ft), flood barriers, and storm drains.
One of the most critical aspects is creation of additional storage. The proposed plan is to convert a City-owned golf course into a stormwater park. Preliminary concepts have been developed in coordination with Parks & Recreation to create a multi-tiered storage facility with recreational components (trails, skate park, pier, sports fields, pickleball courts, and more), some of which will also double as flood storage during extreme events. Approximately one-million cubic yards of excavation is anticipated to be removed from the golf course.
Join us Wednesday, July 14 at 12 noon to learn more about this amazing project coming to Virginia Beach!
City of Virginia Beach Project Manager Michael S. Bumbaco, P.E. and Michael Baker International Project Manager Nicole Dane, P.E. will be our featured speakers.
Registration for members is free with your members-only discount code. Registration for non-members is $15. All proceeds go to the WTS HRC Scholarship Fund.