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Public engages with elected officials on how to stop flooding in Virginia Beach

Posted at 10:45 PM, Aug 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-08 23:28:38-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - State Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler invited the public to engage with elected officials, non-profits and those who are running for office Wednesday night. The discussion revolved around the big question: How can the city of Virginia Beach stop flooding?

"It's easy to complain and say, 'I don't know,' but I will work on bringing people to the table and work on making sure it doesn't happen again," said Del. Convirs-Fowler.

At the second roundtable discussion, citizens, nonprofits, elected officials and those who are running for office sat down to cut through myths and share information.

One of the citizens included Virginia Wasserberg, who is a flood victim.

"Our house flooded in [Hurricane] Matthew in October of 2016, and we just sold the house this spring," said Wasserberg. She said coming to the roundtable discussion allows her to speak with people and get information in person. "I would recommend coming here 'cause this is a wealth of information to pick up on what the city is doing. The city is coming out these to speak to people and help them understand."

Understanding information is what Del. Convirs-Fowler is working on. She said there is a lot of information out there, but the way it is presented may not be the easiest to understand. She said all citizens can do two things to help the city work to stop flooding.

"If it floods all the time, we don't know. We need to know. Call the city. I can't stress it enough. We don't know without the information," she said. The next thing is to be informed. "There's a different reason why we flood in the northern part than why we flood in the southern part. We need to figure out what we can do in those areas to curb flooding. To make it the least likely to happen," said Del. Convirs-Fowler.

For Wasserberg, discussions such as these are a better way to channel the anger from being a flood victim.

"I think it's a great opportunity for people to engage on the issue instead of enrage over it," said Wasserberg.