“Go with the Flow” Mapping Project

The flood survey is brief, making it easy to complete any time it’s raining or when standing water is encountered after a rainstorm. The information you’ll need in order to submit the survey includes:

• The date and time that you are completing the survey

• An estimate of the date and time when the rain event occurred (unless it’s still currently raining)

• The address of where you are reporting that it did or didn’t flood

• Whether it flooded or you found standing water at that address

• An opportunity to upload a photo of any flooding you encountered

• Whether or not you reported any flooding to RVA 311

• Whether you’re taking the survey for the first time

• Any other information or context you want to provide about your survey submission

According to the National Weather Service, a flood is an overflow of water onto normally dry land that may last for days or even weeks. This is distinct from flash flooding, which is caused by heavy or excessive rainfall in a short time and is usually characterized by raging torrents of water that rip through riverbeds or urban streets. No rain has to fall for flashing flooding to occur if, for example, a levee or dam breaks and releases large amounts of water. 

In this project, we are primarily interested in survey data on flooding that happens as part of regular rain events in the city. We need community members to complete the flood survey during rainstorms, whether flooding is encountered or not. After a rain event, we need community members to complete the flood survey when they encounter standing water, no matter how long ago the rain stopped (whether it was hours, days, or even weeks). If a flash flood happens during the data collection period, we want to receive survey data about that too.

If you still have questions about what we mean by “flooding” or “standing water,” there’s a visual included at the top of the survey that may help.

Yes! Students at the University of Richmond are using data collected from the survey to create a computer model of flooding in the city. They need data points from around Richmond about where it does and doesn’t flood during a rain event, and where standing water exists after it has stopped raining. The flood model uses data on where paved roads, storm drains, trees, and other topographical features are located in the city.

With the data collected through the survey, the flood model will look for patterns in what factors, such as paved surfaces without a nearby storm drain, make it more likely that an area will flood. This will allow the students to tweak the computer model to make more accurate predictions about whether it will flood or not in any given area of Richmond based on the patterns it learned from the survey data.

The more data points gathered through the survey about where it floods and where it doesn’t will make the computer model’s predictions more accurate—and therefore, more helpful in steering resources where they are needed most to address flooding.

Yes! The survey is designed to be taken multiple times, so you can submit the survey any time it rains, regardless of whether it floods or not. You can also take the survey after it has stopped raining when you encounter standing water.

Here are some examples of different places you encounter in daily life that you could submit a survey about:

• Your home and surrounding neighborhood

• Your place of work

• If you have children, the area surrounding your child’s school or daycare

• Your place of worship

• Where you go to shop, dine, or seek entertainment 

• Areas you drive through to get to any of the above locations

If it floods in an area during one rain event but doesn’t during another in the same exact location, please submit a survey for both rain events. When in doubt about whether or not to complete the survey, complete it! The more data we have, the more accurate our map of flooding in the city will be.

Signing up for text alerts will ensure you have the survey link readily accessible any time it rains.

For this project to have maximum impact, we are hoping to receive at least 250 survey submissions by at least 100 different community members between March 20 and September 1, 2025. Our main focus is to collect data for the Southside of Richmond, however, we invite and encourage people who live all over the city to participate. The more data we have, the better we'll understand where flooding is a problem in the city. Through increased understanding, we'll be in a position to more effectively communicate the problem to decision-makers who can provide funding and other support for addressing the flooding. Please encourage your friends and family to get involved! You can even invite the young people in your life to participate, creating an opportunity for scientific discovery each time it rains, or when standing water is encountered after a rainstorm.

Flooding in Richmond is a larger problem than many realize, especially for the folks lucky enough to live in neighborhoods that don't experience regular flooding. According to a University of Maryland Center for Disaster Resilience report, flooding is a problem that stands to get worse as climate change causes more extreme weather events and heavier rainfall, increasing the risk of disruption, property damage and other economic loss, injury, and even death in our communities. The effects of flooding are especially disruptive to lower-income and minority residents, who are more likely to live in flood-prone areas and less likely to be covered by flood insurance.

In Richmond, flooding is caused by excessive runoff in developed areas where the water has nowhere to go. Much of the city is covered by non-permeable surfaces that can't absorb water, so instead water is funneled towards drainage systems, which are outdated and quickly overwhelmed in many areas of the city. This causes the water to back up and flood over into areas that are not usually inundated with water. By taking proactive action, starting with this project to map the scope of the flooding happening in the city, we can address flooding before it worsens.

RVA 311 is a free service that Richmonders can use to request help with non-emergency needs like potholes, sidewalk repair, trees, flooding and stormwater management, tax billing, streetlights, social services programs, and more. In addition to completing our flood mapping survey any time you encounter flooding in the city, it is also important to report the flooding to RVA 311 using their hotline or mobile phone app. 

While the data we collect through this project will help support long-term solutions to addressing flooding in the city, RVA 311 may be able to provide more immediate support with addressing localized flooding issues. For example, in 2021 alone, RVA 311 requests led to the repair of 500 stormwater drains and debris removal from another 500 stormwater drains. Additionally, the City keeps its own data on requests they receive, which helps them allocate resources in annual budgets for infrastructure improvements. The more flooding-related requests the City receives, the more likely it is that additional funding will be allocated to help address these issues in coming years.

According to Xerces Society, "Community science (sometimes referred to as 'participatory science' or 'citizen science') is a form of research that provides everyone—regardless of their background—an opportunity to contribute meaningful data to further our understanding of key issues." At Southside ReLeaf, our team is small and we could only collect so much flood data on our own. By tapping into the community, our goal is to collect a much larger amount of data than we otherwise would be able to. Plus, you are the expert of your own neighborhood and localized community, so you know where it floods much better than we do. 

By engaging our community in this effort, we invite everyone to take some ownership over the flooding issues they experience in their communities and to take an actionable step toward solving the problem by submitting data about flooding through our survey and, ideally, by contacting RVA 311 to report flooding.