NORFOLK, Va. — There's no question that flooding is a concern in the City of Norfolk.
According to city officials, Norfolk has one of the highest rates of relative sea level rise among Atlantic coastal communities.
But Tuesday night, city leaders voted in favor of a resolution to help residents in the city's Southside community.
Kelby Saunders has called Norfolk's Berkley neighborhood home for more than a year.
“We may get a little water in the basement or something, depending upon how high it gets,” Saunders said.
He told News 3 it hasn't flooded much in his time on Bellamy Avenue right next to the Elizabeth River.
However, he recalls one instance last summer around his home.
“At high tide, and the water has nowhere to go, it sits here,” Saunders said, referencing the street near his home. “It was over the curb, over the grass.”
Saunders and others are pleased Norfolk city leaders are addressing resident concerns in the Southside community.
Tuesday night, council members approved two resolutions and an ordinance addressing flooding in the city.
This included a commitment to residents in the city’s Berkley, Campostella, and Campostella Heights neighborhoods to work with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to get approval by the federal government to design and build structural flood risk reduction matters.
These matters could potentially be something like a flood wall or a levee.
This is all related to the Coastal Storm Risk Management Project to protect the city from coastal flooding and storms.
“It is a matter of when a storm is going to hit us, and what type of storm is going to hit us,” one resident said.
Col. Brian Hallberg, District Commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told News 3 it's great to have the city's support for this move.
Hallberg said this all comes after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created a plan with the city back in 2018.
“Unfortunately at the time, when we assessed it, it was best to formulate the area using nonstructural because, when we build a wall, it costs a lot of money, and it’s a big investment,” Hallberg said. “Now just looking at comprehensive benefits, other social effects, that’s the justification that we’re going to push forward so that we can look at is there a way to re-formulate the plan for the southside.”
Norfolk City Councilmember Andria McClellan addressed flooding concerns during Tuesday night's meeting.
“This is a huge issue for the city in so many different ways,” McClellan said. “This project will help us deal with the existential threat of these coastal storm risk big storms, but we also have to deal with our everyday flooding too.”
Many residents are all in on the move.
“We hope that resolution one is the beginning, not the end, of Norfolk pursuing environmental justice for all of its citizens,” one resident said during Tuesday’s meeting.
As far as what’s next from here, Col. Hallberg told News 3 for all of this to become a reality for the Southside community, the Army Corps of Engineers has to get authorization.
He said there has to be approval from their headquarters.
Depending on the cost, Hallberg added it may have to get congressional approval before they can re-study this.
Hallberg mentioned it could take at least a few years for the process to play out.
