Study focuses on reducing flooding in Christiansburg

CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – The town of Christiansburg is working to address issues with flooding in the downtown area and along Towne Branch. It's all part of an ongoing study to determine and address the problem areas. 

One of the most important phases of the study kicks off this week as part of a community meeting. The town is looking for businesses and homes that tend to see issues with flooding, whether it's every time it rains or just every once in awhile.

Town leaders are asking community members to come out on Thursday night and share their concerns and stories. They are also asked to bring along any pictures or video for documentation, if they have it. 

This is all information that will be used in the bigger plan, as a consultant team works to evaluate drainage and flooding problems along the creek, map out the floodplains and eventually develop a list of planned drainage improvements to put in place.

Wayne Nelson, the engineering director for the town of Christiansburg, says the team has already started to zero in on certain areas where he and others have seen repeated issues with flooding.  

"When there's a big rain event here, it's all hands on deck," he says. "We're all out in the field, we're all answering calls, trying to help people because that's what we do."

Nelson says these are issues the town has been working to address, and thanks to a $75,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and a matching $75,000 from the town of Christiansburg, the downtown watershed study is now the first step in a longer path to address and solve the flooding issues in Christiansburg. 

The study is expected to last through July 2018. When the study is finished, the town will begin working to secure funding to make the necessary replacements and updates. 

"We are looking at large infrastructure projects [at Thursday's meeting], but I think we can also help homeowners with some suggestions of things they might be able to do around their homes to help relieve the immediate flooding they experience," says Nelson. 

Some of the infrastructure updates that have been put in place to address flooding issues like this in the past include a piping project to redirect water. The town has also used stormwater detention and retention projects, where town engineers can hold water back, releasing it at a slower rate that would lead to less flooding and less damage. 

At this point, it's too early to know which, if either, of those methods would be used on these particular flooding issues. That's what town leaders and consultants on the project will be working to determine as part of the ongoing study.

The community meeting will take place at Town Hall on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, click here.