The intensity of flooding in Huntington this summer was not anticipated because Fairfax County and Federal Emergency Management Agency were using floodplain information that was three decades old, according to a report issued Thursday by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The highly anticipated report was commissioned shortly after devastating floods struck the eastern Fairfax County locale in late June to explain why floodwaters penetrated so deeply into the community. A swift-moving wall of putrid water unexpectedly washed through neighborhoods on Arlington Terrace and Fenwick Drive, displacing scores of homeowners and causing millions of dollars’ worth of property damage.
The Army Corps found that about 40 years of sediment buildup in Cameron Run added as much as 2 feet to floodwaters. Construction on the Route 1 interchange, part of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project, also raised flood levels from about half a foot in some areas to almost a foot in other parts of Huntington.
“It should be noted, however, that some of the houses in Huntington still would have been flooded during the June 2006 flood event even if these activities had not increased the flood levels,” the report said.
The report apparently exonerates three sources that had been suggested as contributing to the floods: a stuck barge under the George Washington Memorial Parkway, water from Lake Barcroft dam and the Potomac River tide. At the time of the event, the county and FEMA were using a U.S. Geological Survey study for floodplain management created in 1976, which did not account for the heavy sedimentation in Cameron Run since then. The county called a community meeting Thursday at Walt Whitman Middle School to unveil the results of the study, the latest in a long series of gatherings that have historically been marked by an undercurrent of frustration and confusion. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday agreed to look into an array of measures to prevent future floods, including dredging the stream.
