The borings along the bayfront are tied to the ongoing Coastal Storm Risk Management Study, which began in June as the region looks to mitigate the number of flood challenges not just along the coast but apparent arterials that run through towns as well. 

According to a presentation during the open hearings earlier this summer, tide stations around the area have recorded some of the highest sea change rates across the entire Atlantic Coast seaboard. The strategy that will kickstart this week further derived from a 2020 study by Virginia Beach officials called the  Sea Level Wise Adaptation Strategy, designed to get ahead of identifying various risk types, flood drivers, and how to mitigate extensive damage from future risk. 

“What we want to do in our analysis is factor in all of the storms that could happen over the course of the period of analysis, and so that’s where the probabilistic modeling comes in, said Andrew Lobo, and economics lead with the Army Corps who presented to the town in June.  

“What our modeling tries to do is to envision all of the different types of storms that could happen over the period of analysis, and we interface those storms with the economic information that we’ve developed about the study area with the goal being to develop an idea about the consequences of coastal storms, because consequences are another piece of the risk.”

So what can beachgoers expect with there still being plenty of summer weeks remaining?

As aforementioned, beginning this week crews will work Monday-Friday, beginning at 7:30 a.m. until roughly 5 p.m., shutting down sections of the beach to do in-water borings, with each access point running roughly up to an hour. According to the town, crews will mark off each zone with either cones or flags. The complete plan, path and what’s to be expected is located on the website of the City of Virginia Beach.