VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WVEC) -- City workers are dredging water in five different canals in Virginia Beach to stop the flooding problem.
The canals surround Windsor Woods, Princess Anne Plaza, and The Lakes neighborhoods. City officials said they’re putting $134 million into these changes, but Deputy City Manager Thomas Leahy said the first thing they have to do is focus on dredging.
“As water runs off the neighborhood, it carries sediments and dirt and particles, and parts of tires that are degrading and parts of roads that are degrading, and it fills up these canals over a period of decades,” said Leahy.
He said the dredging is set to be finished by July 2018. One neighbor installed a $6,000 drain in her backyard.
“The only project that you see is yes you see them dredging or doing something in these canals but whatever it is that they’re doing. The homeowners are still having to pay out of our pocket to fix the issues in our yards,” said the anonymous neighbor.
Other neighbors, like Roberta Huff, think that the implemented city changes are already doing some good.
“I think they’ve done a good job rectifying it. I don’t think they want anybody’s house being washed away. It’s not coming up in the yard or in the driveway like it used to,” said Huff.
Leahy said that more changes are soon to come.
“The projects we’re looking at will involve tide gates and pump stations in order to essentially overcome the effects of mother nature and pump down lake Windsor," said Leahy.
"The inlets need to be made bigger. The canals need to be made bigger, but because of this canal work, any given storm, the waters will not back up as high and they will clear much faster."
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