In 2016 and 2018, two “1,000-year storms” devastated the historic town of Ellicott City, Maryland.
Ellicott City sits at the bottom of a steep valley at the junction of four rivers that feed into a larger river. The water that made this such an ideal location to settle in the 1700s has become the town’s greatest threat today. The two storms claimed three lives and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage.
A number of geographical and climate factors contributed to the severity of the floods, but many people believe that unchecked development, insufficient stormwater management and decades of failures to address crumbling infrastructure combined to make the situation much worse, according to an analysis by Bloomberg CityLab.
Howard County approved a series of flood mitigation efforts and there is now a complete Safe and Sound Plan for the area.
The Federal and Maryland Emergency Management agencies and Howard County contributed millions of dollars in funding for repairs and improvements for better storm water management, and more help is coming as some residents continue to experience flooding this year.
While Ellicott City has more river branches surrounding it, the issues may sound similar to the situation in Alexandria, where a number of recent, significant rain events have caused flooding and millions of dollars in damages.
Now, Alexandria officials have to try to catch up on long-overdue infrastructure maintenance and improvements in an effort to prevent more floods from harming residents and businesses.
Cause and Effect in Alexandria
At a late-September Alexandria City Council meeting, Mayor Justin Wilson said the city is too late to prevent the problems. “Unfortunately, when people do come to testify about capital investments it is because our capital infrastructure has failed… It’s usually 10 to 15 years too late for the City to be making the kind of preventative investments to address those concerns.”
“These unusual, very intense storms are happening much, much more frequently and it is going to force a conversation around how we make the kind of investments in our storm sewer infrastructure to alleviate — if not completely prevent — alleviate some of these flooding challenges that we’ve seen all across the city. I think our residents are expecting it, are demanding it and this is one of the most basic services we provide as a community,” Wilson said.
City Manager Mark Jinks at the same meeting attributed the increase of storms and related flooding to climate change and agreed: “We have an urgent situation, we have to make this a priority.”
Alexandria’s infrastructure system has been designed to withstand a 10-year storm event, or a rain event of such volume that it only has a one-in-10 chance of happening in any given year. However, in the past 14 months, Alexandria has had 3 rainstorms that significantly surpassed the 10-year mark.
In Mayor Wilson’s Oct. 1 newsletter, he explained: “For Alexandria, a 10-year storm event constitutes one that will drop 2.28 inches of rain over a 60-minute period or 4.81 inches over a 24-hour period.”
A storm on July 8, 2019 dropped more than 3.3 inches of rain in one hour and caused more than $3 million in damage to city-owned property, including DASH bus facilities and the Holmes Run Trail, plus several more million in damages to residences and businesses. The storm broke a 148-year record for single-day rainfall in the region.
Courtesy Alexandria Police Dept.
Flooding in Alexandria in July 2019.
Courtesy of Traffic Zen
Flooding on West Taylor Run in July 2019.
This year, a storm on July 23 dropped more than 2.5 inches in about 30 minutes, and a Sept. 10 storm dropped 3.6 inches of rain in less than an hour. Damage assessments from those storms are still in progress.
After decades of underinvestment, according to City of Alexandria staff and Mayor Justin Wilson, Alexandria is now starting to spend a significant amount of money on stormwater management in response to resident concerns. The City has developed a new long-term plan for managing stormwater and flooding, including a commitment to increased and regular maintenance of streams and channels. This plan includes the creation of an interdepartmental "strike team" to find ways to figure out ways to accelerate investment, including seeking federal assistance.
In 2016, a City of Alexandria study “identified 90 separate deficiencies in the system, and estimated $61 million of construction costs required to address those deficiencies (construction costs are approximately half of expected budget costs). Over half of these deficiencies are concentrated in the Hooff's Run and Four Mile Run watersheds. The reports of flooding from our residents during these most recent events align closely to these deficiencies,” Mayor Wilson noted in his Oct. 1 City Council Connection newsletter. (See the 2016 study here.)
One of the City’s biggest systemic problems is the Hoofs Run Culvert, which was built in the 1950s. City officials have told residents over the past several weeks in online forums and recently in Wilson’s newsletter that it has not been thoroughly or regularly maintained in years, in part because it was reportedly designed to be “self-cleaning.”
A 2019 study (released to the public in July 2020 here) showed structural issues and a backups of more than a foot of mud and debris in the Hoofs Run Culvert that have contributed to flooding in the surrounding area. Plans to clean the culvert carry a price tag of $2 million and a six-month timeline. Work will start this fall.
The City also announced plans this fall to implement a better rain and stream gauge network to allow for a more accurate storm warning system and signage for trouble spots. City officials will collect data to pinpoint additional spot improvements that city staff can make in different neighborhoods affected by flooding. City staff will also increase neighborhood outreach and engagement on the issue.
The City of Alexandria first started collecting a Stormwater Utility Fee in 2018, and that money has been accumulating, totaling more than $110 million to date. A portion of that fee revenue will be used for stomwater capacity improvements, according to Wilson.
In addition, the City Council back in the spring approved a $2.1 billion, 10-year Capital Improvement Program that includes $150 million for stormwater and sewer infrastructure. Alexandria Renew Enterprises, which runs Alexandria’s sewer system, has another $593 million earmarked for capital improvements in the next 10 years.
Developers are responsible for water lines on their own property and often build large pipes to handle stormwater and sewer output from the development. However, those big pipes often lead to smaller, older pipes throughout the city, creating a funnel effect that can cause water to back up.
The City is responsible for 185 miles of pipes, 13,500 structures and 26 miles of streams and channels, and not all of them have been cleared underground where dirt and debris has accumulated and reduced water capacity, like Hoofs Run. Some of the money the City has earmarked for stormwater improvements will help.
In addition, the City plans to look into federal aid options and find out if there is wiggle room in the water quality budget to shift money from one bucket to another. Virginia and the federal government have many mandates on water quality, which have taken up a significant portion of Alexandria’s water-related budget in recent years, which include recent improvements to Ben Brenman park.
What Homeowners Can Do
City officials plan to offer City-funded grants for owners to better protect their property from floods by flood proofing and regrading. More information will be available in the coming weeks as local officials work through some legal issues.
Additionally, city officials are looking into offering a tax offset to homeowners for flood improvements and a stormwater utility fee tax credit to incentivize private property improvements. This would be in addition to the program already in place to help homeowners pay for backflow prevention, and the city is also exploring expanding eligibility requirements for that program.
City officials also encourage homeowners to purchase flood insurance, which is available in many parts of Alexandria at a discounted rate based on the 2013 update to the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System; Alexandria was the only city at the time to receive a rating of 6, the most dire rating in Virginia at the time.
On Oct. 1, FEMA released a new preliminary flood zone map for Alexandria that will go into effect in 2022 and expands the number of properties along Holmes Run, Backlick Run, Four Mile Run, Hoofs Run, Lucky Run and multiple other areas where owners can purchase FEMA flood insurance.
Residents should also consider adding water damage insurance to their regular homeowner’s insurance policy. Water damage coverage is separate from flood insurance, and may cover rainwater damage that does not quality for flood coverage.
In addition, when the City has enough notice about an expected significant rainstorm, residents can pick up sandbags free of charge at select locations.
Residents can also do a number of things at home, according to information from local insurance companies, including ensuring gutters and downspouts are properly installed, cleaned and channel water away from the home’s foundation. Installing a sump pump may also help.
Residents should also have their foundation and basement inspected for cracks, pipe holes, vents and other areas where water can come in, insurance companies recommend. A home improvement contractor will be able to fill cracks and seal openings.
City officials encourage residents to continue to report flooding incidents using the City’s 311 system and to participate in public meetings on the subject. The City’s ability to respond to maintenance requests will be increased after Alexandria residents put in more than 600 service requests as a result of this year’s extreme rain events. Telling city officials about flooding can help them pinpoint which stormwater drains and culverts need maintenance and cleaning to help prevent future flooding.
City of Alexandria
This advice seemed tone deaf to a number of residents who spoke at the Sept. 22 City Council meeting, saying they have already done a lot to protect their property but still experienced flooding, including sewage backups in home basements. They are worried about not only their property but their safety as well.
LaMonica Johnston, who lives near the Hoofs Run Culvert, spoke at the Sept. 22 City Council meeting, where she said that she and her infant son were almost drowned and electrocuted during a 2019 storm, and that residents had to rescue another woman from her car, wading through waist-deep water.
“The culvert problem is not just destroying our property, it’s not just ruining our personal belongings or our cars, it’s not just stealing our time from the days and weeks spent cleaning it. It’s literally threatening lives… It is only a matter of time before there is a casualty in this problem if it is not resolved quickly,” she said.
City resident George Demetriades expressed some of this frustration on Facebook where he challenged Mayor Wilson and City Council: “We need the City to do its job rather than produce another study. Studies and reports do not clean drains or fix failing infrastructure. This is about the City’s failure to mitigate the devastating flooding that has destroyed property, decreased quality of life, and threatened our health.” He went on to argue that not enough of the Capital Improvement Budget 10-year plan was going toward addressing an issue that the City has been aware of for a long time.
Unfortunately for homeowners and business owners, there is no quick fix to the flooding problems and there will be many more meetings to discuss the issue. For Alexandrians who watch their weather forecasts with trepidation, hopefully it’s not too little, too late.
