ROANOKE, Va. – While Virginia prepares for Tropical Storm Debby to arrive this week, Roanoke City is planning for not only this storm but for future weather events with their Flood Mitigation Projects.
One of those projects is taking place on Meadowbrook Road NW off of Peters Creek Road, where six houses located in a floodplain were bought by the city and demolished.
“[The houses] were at the greatest risk of flooding along this corridor of Peters Creek,” said Civil Engineer with Roanoke, Curry McWilliams.
Demolishing the houses was phase one of Roanoke’s Flood Mitigation Project in this neighborhood off of Peters Creek Road, an area where one of the 13 tributaries of the Roanoke River, Peters Creek is known for being a problem area when it comes to flooding.
“Phase two is now a large-scale project where we are excavating the floodplain and removing greater risk to the immediate community as well,” said McWilliams.
Meadowbrook Road isn’t the only area where these kinds of plans are being executed.
The demolition of the Ramada Inn on Franklin Road and properties near Lick Run are also examples.
“What happens in increased storms especially in an urban area like Roanoke, you have more water going through a river or a stream that it can hold and that’s why a floodplain is so important. So utilizing this as a natural space is valuable because this is where you want it to flood, out in the vacant area rather than high use, high density areas,” said McWilliams.
The city is also looking at upgrading their storm drainage systems downtown, which is another problem area for flooding.
These projects are financed by grants from F.E.M.A.
All properties which were acquired by the city were given fair market values, and it was not eminent domain. All the property owners voluntarily sold to the city.