Eastern Shore Virginia flooding

A new study that looks at how sea-level rise will affect the Eastern Shore of Virginia found 33 miles of roads could be permanently flooded sometime between 2025 and 2050, with one foot of sea-level rise.

Most of the affected miles are on the northern bayside of Accomack County.

Seven communities, including Saxis, could be entirely inaccessible by road at that point, according to the May 2015 report by the Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission.

“We just need to be talking about this; it’s important that this gets into the conversation,” said Curt Smith, Director of Planning at the ANPDC.

Nearly one-quarter of the Shore’s roads and more than 50 communities and facilities in the two Eastern Shore counties are vulnerable to sea-level rise, the study concluded.

“This will be the first study on the Shore that will look into when this is projected to occur — that’s the last piece of the puzzle,” said Smith, who authored the 190-page report.

Recent advances in technology made possible more precise mapping of the region — with accuracy to within less than an inch rather than […]