HAMPTON ROADS HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN COMMUNITY PROFILE 2017 UPDATE Section 3 was updated to align the format and content of the existing plans and incorporate the most recent data available for each community. Tables and figures were updated, when necessary, to incorporate data from the 2010 U.S. Census, the HRPDC and other sources. GEOGRAPHY AND THE ENVIRONMENT Located in the southeastern quadrant of Virginia, the portion of Hampton Roads included in this study is bordered to the north by Gloucester County, to the south by Currituck and Camden Counties in North Carolina, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay, and to the west by the counties of Surry, Sussex and Greenville (Figure 3.1). Although Surry County and Gloucester County are generally considered part of the Hampton Roads region for planning purposes, those counties are participating in hazard mitigation planning processes in conjunction with other, adjacent planning districts. Table 3.1 provides a summary of the geographic characteristics of each of the participating communities derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census. FIGURE 3.1: THE HAMPTON ROADS REGION OF VIRGINIA COMMUNITY PROFILE 3:2 TABLE 3.1: SUMMARY OF GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS DENSITY PER SQUARE AREA IN SQUARE MILES MILE OF LAND AREA SUBREGION COMMUNITY TOTAL WATER HOUSING LAND AREA POPULATION AREA AREA UNITS Hampton 136 85 51 2673 1159 Newport News 119 51 69 2630 1109 Poquoson 78 63 15 793 309 Peninsula Williamsburg 9 0.2 9 1559 574 James City 179 37 142 470 209 County York County 215 110 105 625 256 Norfolk 96 43 54 4,496 1,760 Portsmouth 47 13 33 2,895 1,237 Southside Suffolk 429 29 400 211 83 Virginia Beach 497 249 248 1,766 717 Chesapeake 351 10 341 652 244 Isle of Wight 363 47 316 112 46 County Smithfield 10 1 10 809 332 Windsor 1 0 1 2,626 1,059 Franklin 8.75 0.14 8.21 1,046 475 Southampton 602 3 599 31 13 Western County Tidewater Boykins 0.69 0 0.69 812.3 388.9 Branchville 0.43 0 0.43 267.1 121.8 Capron 0.17 0 0.17 1004.2 423.5 Courtland 0.92 0 0.92 1400.3 567.1 Ivor 1 0 1 339 156 REGION TOTAL 3143.96 741.34 2404.42 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Hampton Roads is located within the Atlantic Coastal Plain Physiographic Province, which is characterized by its low, flat relief (Figure 3.2). Much of the region’s elevation is nearly level, with the highest elevation point in the study area being just 177 feet above sea level. For example, the overall elevation for the City of Chesapeake averages about 12.2 feet above sea level. HAMPTON ROADS HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN JANUARY 2017 COMMUNITY PROFILE 3:3 The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the easternmost of Virginia's physiographic zones. The zone extends from New Jersey to Florida, and includes all of Virginia east of the Fall Line, which is the point at which east- flowing rivers cross from the hard, igneous, and metamorphic rocks of the Southern Piedmont to the relatively soft, unconsolidated strata of the Coastal Plain (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 2001). FIGURE 3.2: PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF VIRGINIA Hampton Roads contains portions of four major river basins: the James River Basin, the York River Basin, Lower Chesapeake Bay, and the Albemarle-Chowan Basin. Figure 3.3 provides a graphical illustration of the watersheds designated by their USGS Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC). The James River Watershed encompasses approximately 10,200 square miles, and its headwaters are located in Bath and Highland Counties. The James River, which is a part of the larger Chesapeake Bay Basin, empties into the Chesapeake Bay at Hampton Roads. The Lower James subbasin, as shown in Figure 3.3, has an area of 1,440 square miles, and the Hampton Roads – Elizabeth subbasin has an area of 425 square miles. The York River Basin encompasses 2,626 square miles with headwaters in Orange County, Virginia. The Lower York River subbasin shown in Figure 3.3 has an area of just 275 square miles. Several tributaries in the study area flow directly into the Chesapeake Bay, including Poquoson River, Back River, and Lynnhaven River, but the basin also includes the small bays, river inlets, islands and shoreline of the Bay. While the entire basin includes just over 3,000 square miles of land area, just 53% of that land area is within the study area. Land in both North Carolina and Virginia contribute runoff to the Albemarle-Chowan River Basin. The drainage basin within Virginia is 4,061 square miles, and the basin begins as far west as Charlotte County. Major tributaries include the Meherrin, Nottaway and Blackwater Rivers. In Virginia, there are four distinct sub-watersheds — the Great Dismal Swamp, North Landing River, Northwest River, and Back Bay. These waters flow into the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds in southeastern North Carolina. HAMPTON ROADS HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN JANUARY 2017 COMMUNITY PROFILE 3:4 FIGURE 3.3: HYDROGRAPHIC REGIONS OF HAMPTON ROADS Source: Hampton Roads Regional Water Supply Plan, HRPDC, 2011 According to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) natural heritage inventory, there are at least seven important ecological community groups in Hampton Roads that are interrelated with the water resources of the region: • Pine/Scrub Oak Sandhills – includes slightly elevated sand deposits along the Blackwater and Nottoway Rivers in Southampton and Isle of Wight counties and the City of Suffolk. • Fluvial Terrace Woodlands – Nottoway River and Chickahominy River • Bald Cypress – Tupelo Swamps – swamps dominated by old-growth bald cypress along the Blackwater River in Isle of Wight County and the Nottoway River in Southampton County. • Coastal Plain/Piedmont Swamp Forests; • Coastal Plain/Piedmont Floodplain Forests; • Tidal Bald Cypress Forests and Woodlands; and, • Tidal Freshwater and Oligohaline Aquatic Beds The Virginia Scenic Rivers program, administered by DCR, identifies, recognizes and provides limited protection to rivers whose scenic beauty, historic importance, recreation value, and natural characteristics make them resources of particular importance. Reaches of the Blackwater, lower James, North Landing and Nottoway Rivers are all designated scenic rivers through the program. Similarly, the Nationwide Rivers Inventory is a register of river segments that possess unique, rare or exemplary features that are HAMPTON ROADS HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN JANUARY 2017 COMMUNITY PROFILE 3:5 significant at a comparative regional or national scale. Segments of the Blackwater, Chickahominy, James, Northwest, Nottoway, Ware, Yarmouth, and York Rivers are designated on the National Rivers Inventory for various reasons. Additional information on the significance of each designated reach can be found at: http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/nri/states/va.html. The summer, fall, spring, and winter temperatures in the Hampton Roads region are typically mild. Table 3.2 provides the annual meteorological averages for maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures, as well as total precipitation from three airports in the coastal part of the region. The region usually receives small amounts of snowfall annually. Additional discussion of weather extremes, including winter storms, are included in Section 4. TABLE 3.2: ANNUAL METEOROLOGICAL AVERAGES TOTAL WEATHER TEMPERATURE (DEGREES FAHRENHEIT) PRECIPITATION STATION MAXIMUM MINIMUM MEAN (INCHES) Joint Base Langley-Eustis 67.5 51.3 59.4 43.6 (Hampton) 1918-2007 Holland (Suffolk) 70.2 47.4 58.8 48.4 1933-2008 Norfolk International 68.5 51.4 59.9 45.3 Airport 1946-2008 Source: Hampton Roads Regional Water Supply Plan, HRPDC, 2011 The following information provides a brief overview of the history, geography and unique characteristics of the jurisdictions in the study area. City of Hampton Hampton is the oldest continuously settled English-speaking community in the United States. The area now occupied by Hampton was first noted by English colonists before they sailed up the James River to settle in Jamestown, where they visited an Indian village called Kecoughtan. In 1610, the construction of Fort Henry and Fort Charles at the mouth of Hampton Creek marked the beginnings of Hampton. In 1619, the settlers chose an English name for the community, Elizabeth City. The settlement was known as Hampton as early as 1680, and in 1705 Hampton was recognized as a town. The City of Hampton was first incorporated in 1849. In 1952, Hampton, the independent town of Phoebus, and Elizabeth City County, encompassing Buckroe and Fox Hill, were consolidated under one municipal government. Benjamin Syms and Thomas Eaton founded the first free public schools in the United States in Hampton. Hampton is the site of Hampton University, established in 1868 to educate freed slaves. St. John's Episcopal parish was founded in 1610, making it the oldest in the country. Fort Monroe was the only active moat-encircled fort in the country from 1819 until it was decommissioned in 2011. For a long period during the Civil War, the fort was the only Union outpost in the Confederacy. The famous battle between the first ironclad battleships, the Monitor and the Merrimac, was fought just offshore in Hampton Roads, near the Hampton-Newport News municipal boundary. During the Civil War, rather than surrender to the Federal army, Hampton was burned down by its own troops. Before the fire, Hampton had 30 businesses and over 100 homes. Fewer than six buildings remained intact after the fire. In 1884, fire again besieged Hampton and almost completely destroyed the downtown business district. HAMPTON ROADS HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN JANUARY 2017 COMMUNITY PROFILE 3:6 Hampton is now a thriving city with numerous industries including high-tech firms, seafood processing, NASA, military, and tourism.