Deal Island flooding: 'The waters are rising'
Community, scientists working to stop shoreline from breaching
Jenna Miller
Old photos show 6-foot dunes that rise out of a Chesapeake Bay beach on the west side of Deal Island.
Fast forward to present day, and a thin strip of flat beach is barely visible between the beating waves and marshland.
“I can point to you where it came from since we have been here,” said local resident Suekay Ford, gesturing down to the bay. She has only lived in her current home for four years but can see the change already. “The waters are rising.”
Yet, Ford’s view is uncommon in the area, where many believe the change in coastline is due to erosion.
The small island has become a living laboratory for scientists to learn about how to blunt the impacts of flooding, while interacting with community members, many of whom disagree on the existence of sea-level rise and climate change.
In the last five years, researchers from the University of Maryland have led the charge, coordinating the Deal Island Peninsula Project with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The project aims to work with the local community to research and implement solutions.
An unassuming beach just south of Cromwell Road on Deal Island has been identified as a vital location to slow disruptive flooding and is the site of two different projects to learn about and mitigate impacts of encroaching waves using natural features.
“The community is quite concerned about the fact that additional erosion could lead to really increased flooding in their neighborhoods and on their roads,” said Ariana Sutton-Grier, director of science for the The Nature Conservancy Maryland chapter of the project site.
Researchers and residents worry that further erosion at this site could join the ocean with marsh water inland, which would substantially increase the risk of flooding in the area. The site has become a high priority for the Deal Island community, said Sutton-Grier.
On a hot and muggy Tuesday, a group of scientists and engineers filed onto the thin strip of beach, equipment in hand. Their goal for the day was to check wave monitoring equipment spread throughout the beach, marsh and into the ocean.
George Mason engineering doctorate candidate Ali Rezaie and recent graduate Juan Garzon waded waist deep into the bay, feeling for foot-long stakes upon which monitors were mounted. It is important that the monitors remain in the same place to record dependable measurements, Rezaie said.
The carefully placed monitors will show the team how different natural features impact wave energy. The research could help planners design strategies that use natural landscapes in erosion and flood prevention.
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“As an engineer, growing up we are designed to think about hard structures that protect you from natural disasters,” said Rezaie. “But, over the time as we are coming here, we can see how sustainable these vegetations are.”
Rezaie said he was surprised to learn that landscapes, including marsh and grasses, provide very real protection against flooding.
The study, which was co-funded by the local and world office of The Nature Conservancy, is more than halfway through its yearlong time span. However, Sutton-Grier said she hopes to extend the grant to give time for the work to be published in 2019.
In what the two groups describe as a mutually beneficial partnership, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is planning work for the same beach. The department is in the early stages of planning for a project that will restore the dunes that once lined the shore.
“This way we can get some prerestoration data and maybe, hopefully be able to capture some post-restoration data, although that’s not part of our one-year project here,” said Sutton-Grier.
The Maryland Department for Natural Resources has chosen a bid for the design phase of the project and plans to proceed construction phase in summer 2019, said Nicole Carlozo, a natural resource resiliency planner at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
The Deal Island community helped select the site for dune restoration during a series of community meetings in spring 2018.
“The idea is to slow down the wave energy,” Carlozo said. “The goal of the project is really to stop the shoreline from breaching.”
She added that a breach in the shoreline at this location was likely to have a significant impact on the surrounding community’s flood risk.
“Deal Island is one of many underserved communities on the Eastern Shore,” said Carlozo. “We need to give the shoreline a little bit of help.”
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