Virginia beach makes plans to keep its head above water

Stormwater issues literally come with the territory in Virginia Beach, Va. Almost entirely surrounded by water and permeated with creeks and marshes, Virginia’s most populous city has long coped with flooding across its 310 sq miles, particularly during hurricanes and other major rain events. Over the past 20 years, those floods have become more frequent and more disruptive, attributable in part, says deputy city manager Tom Leahy, to recent intense development that has outpaced the capacity of the city’s 1950s-era drainage infrastructure.