NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk residents and the city's Office of Resilience met Wednesday to talk about coastal resilience.
That's because flooding is a big issue for those who live in the area.
"Our particular condo has not flooded but there are places in the neighborhood that become impassible," said David Titus of Norfolk.
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"We get a lot of flooding, but it's usually nuisance flooding," said Cecilia Firstenberg of Norfolk.
There's typically nuisance flooding, but folks want to prepare for catastrophic flood events too.
"It is concerning because I know sea level is rising and we are going to get one of those catastrophic events at some point and we don't really have a lot of protection right now," added Firstenberg.
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At the meeting, residents and the city talked both about nuisance flooding and efforts to prepare for catastrophic flood events and they talked about a $2.6 billion coastal storm risk management project by the city and the Army Corps of Engineers.
"We want to be that model community of the future where we are doing things pre-disaster. We're not waiting for that storm. We need to protect the edge, the coastal. We need to deal with the rainfall. We need technology solutions," explained Kyle Spencer, chief resilience officer for City of Norfolk.
Features of the project include things like living shorelines, flood walls and a levee. Right now, the first phase of the plan's design is nearly complete. The city's hoping to start phase one construction in roughly a year.
As everyone talked, some neighbors were vocal about what they don't want to see.
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"We're particularly concerned with the flooding and the flood wall in our area . . . If I went out on my terrace I'd be looking at an 11-foot wall instead of the Elizabeth River," said Titus. "We're very hopeful that if we keep agitating and meeting with people that hopefully when they do further studies they'd change their plans slightly. There are alternatives proposed that would be perfectly acceptable."
Others hope the final designs are creative and collaborative.
"I am hoping the plan will be to use other methods to mitigate, like a wall that goes up and down, a gate, maybe some wetland type things. Someone was talking about a wall you walk on, like in Virginia Beach. So really I'm interested to find out what they're planning for each different part," said Firstenberg. "I'm glad they're being proactive and I think they just have to be very collaborative with the communities."
If you want to learn more on the projects visit the city's 'Resilient Norfolk' site.
Starting in January, city staff hope to hold the neighborhood coastal resilience meetings monthly.
