CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Tidal flooding is not just a nuisance, it is a threat to national security.
Particularly, if military war-fighters can't get to their bases because local roads are underwater.
"We're at a point now where, especially if you've lived here a couple of years, you can see if we have a high tide and especially if we have high tide plus some rain, that parts of the road system are flooded," said Whitney Katchmark, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission Principal Water Resources Engineer. "It's a reality."
The HRPDC is taking action. With a grant from the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment, it is launching a Joint Land Use Study, focusing on nine Navy properties in Portsmouth and Chesapeake.
Of specific concern is the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the fourth largest employer in Hampton Roads with almost 11,000 workers.
If they can't get to work, that is a big problem.
"We want the military to stay," said Katchmark. "They're a huge employer in our region. And, anything we can do to make working here better is something we're interested in."
Retired Navy Rear Admiral Craig Quigley is Executive Director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance.
"We're going to look at this collaboratively and analytically and we're going to study this and figure out concrete solutions to get on with it and get it done," he said. "Nowhere else in the country is that taking place. Nowhere."
There will be three public hearings next week.
The first one is Wednesday, November 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bide-A-Wee Golf Course Pavilion.
Then, there are two meetings on Thursday, November 14, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Churchland Library, and from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Major Hilliard Library.