The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved spending $1 million to find ways to ensure this summer’s devastating flooding doesn’t repeat itself.
The expenditure, taken from funds carried over from the past fiscal year, would follow a nine-month study by the Army Corps of Engineers into the cause of the recent regionwide disaster. In Huntington, by far the worst-hit area of the county, torrential rains in late June led to a wall of putrid water from Cameron Run inundating scores of homes and causing millions in property damage.
Agencies including the Virginia Department of Transportation now are examining whether other factors, such as the recent Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction, contributed to the Cameron Run flooding. Officials, however, have been unwilling to speculate on the cause.
“Nobody really knows,” county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said. “There is a lot of speculation, but we can’t say what caused the flooding.”
Under Monday’s decision, county staff will also pursue funding partnerships with the city of Alexandria, VDOT, the federal government and “other agencies that may share responsibility in causes and remedies to the recent flooding,” according to a staff report. Regardless of the cause, the flood dealt crushing blows to many outraged homeowners, who found themselves with tens of thousands of dollars in uninsured damages. Adding to the local anger, FEMA declined to open up loans and grants to Virginia homeowners.
The U.S. Small Business Administration later agreed to provide low-interest loans for home repairs.
