Markers of History

Cannonball Trail
Flood Protection for Downtown Norfolk

Location: City Hall Ave & Boush St, Norfolk, VA 23510

Visited: July 3, 2009, 2:15pm

Transcription of marker: Tidal flood­ing from hur­ri­canes and north­east­ers has always been a part of Norfolk’s rela­tion­ship with the sea. In 1693, the Royal Society of London reported that “there hap­pened a most vio­lent storm in Virginia, which stopped the course of ancient chan­nels and made some where there were never any.” Hurricanes in 1749 and 1806 formed the Willoughby Spit sec­tion of Ocean View, and a hur­ri­cane in August 1933 killed 18 peo­ple. In March 1962, the City was struck by the “Ash Wednesday Storm,” a mas­sive, slow-moving north­easter which caused wide­spread destruc­tion along the entire east coast. By the early 1970’s, per­ma­nent flood pro­tec­tion for down­town was constructed.

This storm water pump sta­tion and the adja­cent flood­walls pro­tect the low-lying areas of down­town from tidal flood­ing. Large steel doors at var­i­ous points allow pas­sage through the wall, but are peri­od­i­cally closed when tidal flood­ing is antic­i­pated. Beneath City Hall Avenue, which was once a canal, is a large box cul­vert that col­lects storm water runoff from the down­town area. The box cul­vert car­ries storm water to a “sump” or pit beneath the pump sta­tion, where trash and debris are removed before pump­ing the water into the river.

My impres­sions: Having grown up in a town along a river, but with a great deal of ele­va­tion change beside the river, it is unusual for me to con­sider flood­ing, and given where I lived, hur­ri­canes are also phe­nom­ena only expe­ri­enced via the crazy news reporters who ride out the storms and broad­cast on the news chan­nels. I also remem­ber the flood­ing from one of my early vis­its to Norfolk, where a walk­ing path along the river was under a cou­ple of feet of water from “run-of-the-mill” flooding.

It’s also unusual to think of the weather “cre­at­ing land,” like Willoughby Spit. But these are things that the peo­ple here have lived with.

Markeroni sta­tus: Direct-logged.