Virginia Beach officials want to build a high-tech network of 50 sensors across the city to track flooding and sea level rise. It’s a plan inspired by efforts in a far-away land: Iowa.
The Hawkeye State developed a sensor network that monitors water levels and automatically updates maps and databases in real-time with the measurements. The equipment can send automatic alerts of impending floods to residents, help first-responders plan evacuations in emergencies and feed researchers data to unlock long-term patterns.
Iowa developed the technology in response to a 2008 flood that caused significant damage along the Upper Mississippi River, according to the Iowa Flood Center.
Rob Jessen, coordinator for Virginia Beach’s Center for Geospatial Information Services, said the city learned of Iowa’s unique sensor network at a conference. It inspired Virginia Beach to create its own network, one that would build off the much larger and more expensive sensors the federal government already has at Rudee and Lynnhaven inlets, Sewell’s Point and the Cheseapeake Bay, Jessen said.
The city’s ultimate goal is to simultaneously collect real-time data from 50 sensors that are spread across Virginia Beach and constantly feeding information over a cellular network to the city’s data center, Jessen said. That data would be gathered in three ways by three different sensors, all of which look like small boxes, and analyzed by experts.
“The more data points that we have the better we’re able to monitor for things like sea level rise,” Jessen said.
One kind of sensor would measure water pressure and depth and could help show how badly roads are flooded, thereby helping plan evacuation routes. Another kind would dangle from a bridge’s belly and use sonar to detect how high the water below is. That’s something boaters, and in some cases drivers, might like to know.
The last type of sensor uses a wire to detect the presence of standing water.
Setting up the network would cost about $307,000, according to the the city manager’s proposed 2017 Capital Improvement Program. Jessen said each sensor would cost between $1,000 and $3,000; some would be custom built and others would come off the shelf.
The network will take months to design, and the manufacturers in Iowa would need up to half a year to build and deliver some custom made sensors, Jessen said. Installation could begin in summer 2017 if the City Council approves the project with the rest of the Capital Improvement Program in May.
Have a story idea or news tip? Contact City Hall reporter Judah Taylor at Judah@wydaily.com or 757-490-2750.
Never miss a headline — sign up for our free morning newsletter.
- Virginia Beach to cut weekends, other hours from its 311 information call line
- Oceanfront’s Atlantic wildfowl museum facing ‘devastating’ cuts
- Proposed city budget fills $33 million hole while raising trash fee and employee salaries
- Virginia Beach could begin earmarking about $2 million a year for beach replenishment
- Virginia Beach’s volunteer-driven EMS Department seeks paid position to grow declining ranks
