Floodplain around North Fork Shenandoah River
Happy Sunday,
This link provides a more detailed look into the floodplain that the graphic above shows. In addition, you can zoom in to understand the infrastructure that is affected by flooding events: https://arcg.is/0zPmeu
Mitigation efforts also have to take into account the type of soils that are present in the floodplain. In this case, I used the USDA's Web Soil Survey to figure out what soils are present in the floodplain located in the Town of Strasburg. This survey shows the presence of Broadway Silt Loam, Pits and Dumps, Nomberville Loam, and Alonzville Loam (Natural Resources Conservation Service 2024). This type of soil is great for agricultural land because it is rich in nutrients but also increases flood risks because it does not drain well.
This week's blog post is going to be about a very specific area of the Shenandoah River. I wanted to get maps showing the floodplain around the North Fork of the Shenandoah River right next to the Town of Strasburg in Virginia. The reason that I chose this area is because in a search of the VA DCR's Virginia Flood Risk Information System (VFRIS), it seems that this whole area has either a medium or high risk of flooding so I was interested in the land use data for the town and how they mitigated flood risks. This data was compiled by DCR through FEMA's Flood Mapping tool (VA DCR 2024).
Below is a quick snapshot of the area and the floodplain surrounding this part of the Shenandoah River:
Graphic obtained from VA DCR, 2024.
Some parts of the Town of Strasburg are at medium to high risk of flooding due to their proximity to the floodplain or existence within the floodplain. How these parts of the town are used and what type of soil is present suggests how much effort the town puts in to mitigate flooding risks. The land use map below shows that flooding events would have the largest impact on agricultural/rural housing lands. According to the USDA, it is not the best way of utilizing a floodplain, some suggest converting lands in floodplains back to natural forests, but there are pros and cons to using floodplains for agricultural lands (USDA 2024). Pros include lands near rivers can be very fertile for crops and risks include damage to crops in the event of a flood. Mitigation practices that protect farmlands while not increasing damage downstream can be expensive to farmers but include restoring riparian buffers.
Graphic obtained from Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission, 2024.
The map below shows an additional view of the floodplain around the Town of Strasburg:
Graphic obtained from Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission, 2024.
Overall, my study this week cam to the conclusion that the impacts of flood events can be significant to the town and mitigation strategies could be very helpful for those living in the floodplain and bordering it.
References
Natural Resources Conservation Service (2024). Web Soil Survey. USDA. Retrieved from https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx
USDA (2024). Farming the Floodplain: Trade-offs and Opportunities. USDA. Retrieved from https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/northeast/topic/farming-floodplain-trade-offs-and-opportunities
VA DCR (2024). VFRIS - Virginia Flood Risk Information System. Commonwealth of Virginia. Retrieved from https://casdsis.dcr.virginia.gov/VFRIS/?page=Map&views=Flood-Tool
Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (2024). Zoning Maps. Town of Strasburg. Retrieved by https://www.strasburgva.com/media/18321
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