Flood Management and Mitigation Strike Team Created In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — After three major flooding events within 15 months prompted a call to action for Alexandria officials, there will be a dedicated staff team to work on flood management and mitigation.

City Manager Mark Jinks has created an internal strike team tasked with accelerating development of policy, planning, investment, and funding to address neighborhood flooding. The team will look at the existing stormwater capital and operating plans and budgets, consider strategies to accelerate projects with an emphasis on increasing capacity of the city's stormwater system, make recommendations in other areas to improve the city's ability to withstand severe rainfall and flooding events, and facilitate public engagement and technical assistance for residents and businesses impacted by flooding.

The strike team will look into both short- and long-term solutions with goals of mitigating property and infrastructure damage, as well as protecting the health and safety of residents and businesses. Recommendations will go to the city manager for consideration by City Council.

The team will be led by the Department of Transportation & Environmental Services and have representatives from the City Attorney’s Office, Office of Management and Budget, and Departments of Code Administration; Fire; Information Technology Services; Planning and Zoning; and Project Implementation. The team held its first meeting on Oct. 1 and will provide a written report to the city manager by the end of 2020 on needed capital investments, prioritization of planned and new projects focused on stormwater capacity and maintenance, and funding strategies that factor in the city's stormwater utility fees. The team will also look at opportunities for city-sponsored grant and possible tax incentive programs to assist residents and business owners seeking to install flood protection measures on private property.

Aside from the recommendations of the strike team, Jinks will recommend to City Council $2 million in unspent fiscal year 2020 general funds be allocated as contingent funding for additional stormwater mitigation activities this fiscal year.

The strike team comes after City Council have held several initial conversations in response to the recent flooding events. The flooding events on July 8, 2019 and July 23 and Sept. 10, 2020 demonstrated a key problem: the city's stormwater infrastructure is designed for a "10-year storm" producing 2.28 inches of rain over an hour or 4.81 inches over 24 hours. However, there are older neighborhoods of the city that don't even meet that "10-year-storm" standard.

According to a city statement, climate change is believed to be increasing the frequency of these severe rainfall events. The July 23 storm produced 2.5 inches to 3 inches of rain within 30 minutes, causing flash flooding in areas that may or may not be normally impacted by flooding. The Sept. 10 storm produced 2.5 to 4 inches with rates up to 3 inches per hour.

Flooding has also put a spotlight on the maintenance of the city's stormwater infrastructure. One key concern has been the need for cleaning the Hooff's Run culvert, which handles stormwater from much of Del Ray, Rosemont and parts of North Ridge. After the July 8, 2019 flooding event, the city identified a need to inspect and clean the culvert. The cleaning process is starting this fall.

SEE ALSO:

• FEMA Preliminary Flood Zone Maps Released For Alexandria
• 3 Major Floods Spur Push For Improvements In Alexandria