Stormwater Maintenance Plan

The City of Crisfield has a stormwater maintenance system based primarily on open ditches (map).  This system was developed in the 1930s under the Civilian Conservation Corps and has become quite disjointed over time, with new ditches being dug and older ditches being filled in. Ditches are no longer adequately sloped or correctly connecting.  The Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative recently mapped Crisfield’s ditches, the first time that such a project has occurred.  This map can be found at crisfieldfloodmitigation.com/map.

 

The City of Crisfield is working with FEMA BRIC DTA, the Eastern Shore Regional GIS Cooperative, the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, Inc. (SERCAP), the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center, and plans to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers to identify ways to improve the current stormwater system and stormwater maintenance program, including program funding, connectivity and sloping of the ditches, as well as a maintenance schedule.

 

Adequately functioning ditches and tide gates are important to prevent nuisance floods, but can only prevent flooding to 1.75 feet, when water from the Bay becomes higher than the land flooding the ditches and tide gates. Stormwater system maintenance is needed alongside the Southern and Northern Crisfield Flood Mitigation Projects, which will protect against incoming Bay water of up to 5 feet above sea level, in order to significantly reduce flooding in the City.