VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – “You have to stay prepared particularly when you live along the coast this time of year,” said Mike Wall, a Virginia Beach resident.
As tropical storm Debby makes it up the coast, it’s expected to bring heavy winds and cause flooding for parts of Virginia Beach.
“So we’re really watching citywide of course, with the wind predictions,” Director of Virginia Beach Emergency Management Dave Topczynski said. “You know, you never know where a tree is going to fall down and take out power like that for a little bit. We are watching the Back Bay Pungo area and black water area with the southern winds shift. You know, with that prediction shifting later today and tomorrow to southern winds, we’re just keeping a close eye on the Back Bay areas where we see those tidal wind driven flooding and what that could mean for those roadways.”
“You have to make sure that you have your backup power sources ready, flashlights,” Wall said.
10 On Your Side spoke to Wall on the oceanfront during his morning walk along the boardwalk. He said he pays close attention to weather alerts.
“Sounds like lots of rain, lots of wind, hopefully maybe not as much,” Wall said. “Looks like the path now is going more inland so hopefully now we’ll be on the outskirts of it.”
Virginia Beach visitors hope they can make it back to their home states without issues.
“I hope it doesn’t make traveling bad,” said Chris Loyd, who’s from the DMV area.
“We’ve been checking the storm. Luckily, we had two good days of the beach,” said William Davis, also from the DMV area.
“Stay ready. We’ll leave if we have to, if not we’ll just hang out and ride out the vacation,” said Brandon Cagwin, who’s from Ohio.
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation has its Virginia Flood Risk Information System (VFRIS), which allows someone to put in an address to locate the areas flood risk.
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