As sea rises, academy plans to raise seawall along Severn River
Design phase shows an increase in wall height along Santee Basin
The Naval Academy will raise one of its seawalls to combat an expected sea level rise of up to 3 feet over the next three decades.
The project to increase the height of the Farragut Seawall along the Severn River was announced at the quarterly Board of Visitors meeting this week by academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Ted Carter.
The project will increase the wall along the Santee Basin, around the Robert Crown Sailing Center and extending along the river to Triton Light. The project is still in the design phase, academy spokesman Cmdr. David McKinney said, but work will likely begin in 2020.
Annapolis and the Naval Academy are ground zero for sea level rise on the East Coast — the city had the nation’s biggest increase in yearly floods between 2007 and 2013, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Gina Henderson, an oceanography professor at the academy, said scenarios suggest the Severn River could rise anywhere from 0.6 to 3.6 feet by 2050. To cope, the academy will add 2.62 feet to the 5.4-foot Farragut wall, with features to allow an additional 1.68 feet.
The academy also experiences significant flooding along Ramsay Road, which borders Dorsey Creek. Funeral parties and visitors use the road to access the columbarium, where cremated remains of academy alumni are kept, and the cemetery.
This year, a historic record rain year, the area experienced a record 38 flood days — up from 32 in 2011, Henderson said.
Unlike downtown Annapolis, where the flooding mostly occurs when the harbor backs up into the storm drains, floodwaters can come over the land around Ramsay Road. The Naval Academy is assessing whether to raise the road or move the columbarium, Henderson said.
Ramsay Road is a point of study for the academy’s Sea Level Rise Advisory Coun- cil, formed in 2015 to create a sea level adaptation plan.
Academy researchers on the council help other government entities plan for their own flood mitigation as well.
But on the yard, as the academy calls its campus, the approach will be more piecemeal. The only areas of the academy that are “truly safe” from flooding are parts of Bancroft Hall, the Chapel and Buchanan House, Carter said.
“The plan is going to have to differ depending on different parts of the yard because some things are more missioncritical than others,” Henderson said.
For each road, building or field, the academy has to choose from three options, Carter said: armor to keep the water out, adapt to accommodate flooding when it comes or abandon the location altogether.
The academy also is constrained by its budget. Moving something might be more cost-effective than, for example, installing underground flood mitigation systems like the city of Annapolis plans at City Dock.
“We don’t have all the answers today,” Carter said.