By Elizabeth Montoya-LaPorte, Intern, Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds
Virginia faces a diverse set of flood risks, with sea level rise on the eastern coast, landslides exasperating flood risk in the west and more intense and frequent storms throughout the Commonwealth. Between 2020 and 2060, the number of buildings exposed to an extreme coastal flood is projected to nearly double, while annualized flood damages could increase by 400 percent.
To build resilience against these increasing flood risks, lawmakers created the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund (CFPF) in 2020 under the Virginia Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act. Since its establishment, the CFPF has supported 86 communities and 212 projects, investing more than 200 million dollars in resilience-building funding.