Emptying Battery Park in Response to Flooding from Tropical Ernesto

Tropical Storm Ernesto caused long term severe flooding of the Battery Park area in the City of Richmond, Virginia beginning with heavy rainfalls beginning August 31, 2006. Department of Public Utilities (DPU) initiated investigations and found evidence of a collapse in the major combined sewer, forcing the City to evacuate local residents. In response to these events, DPU took timely actions to provide the residents with the interim protection of bypass pumping to control flooding, investigate the trunk sewer blockage, design and construct a temporary relief pipeline, and design and construct a new tunnel to replace the existing sewer. The City received approval for FEMA funding for emergency response and recovery actions. Within 14½ months of the disaster, the City's replacement tunnel was functional. This project demonstrated how public agencies and private companies pulled together under emergency conditions to engineer solutions during the time of a public crisis.