Posted on July 25, 2025
PETERSBURG, Va. (WRIC) — After flooding ripped through homes and businesses throughout the City of Petersburg on Monday, July 14, city officials quickly pointed the finger at the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
While the city is still under a state of emergency, the Corps is saying the city should take more responsibility.
Both from the USACE Norfolk District — Chief of Water Resources Division Keith Lockwood and civil engineer Stephen Powell told 8News there are steps the city has to take before the Corps can come in.
The Corps said they have not neglected the city despite what Mayor Samuel Parham has said during two press conferences since the flooding came through.
“For decades now, shall I say over 50 years, we have been asking the Corps of Engineers to do the proper dredging that needs to be done,” Mayor Parham said.
The Corps said the city is responsible for reaching out for help and that they haven’t done so, not only in the last week, but the last few years.
“The Corps of Engineers has not neglected to attempt over the years to maintain navigation in the Appomattox,” Lockwood said.
Powell said it’s the city that has to make the first move.
“It was really up to the city to offer…an area for the containment of the dredging material before we could start any of the evaluation process,” Powell said.
Until that happens, the Corps can’t come up with a cost estimate, timeline or work on any of it.
In a perfect world, rainwater coming from the City of Petersburg would drain into the harbor channel and out into the Appomattox River. But instead, Mayor Parham said there’s so much silt built up in the harbor that the water rolls right back into the city.
City officials want to dredge the river and remove sediment or debris to deepen the channel, which would help prevent flooding.
“It’s really on both sides to work together and it has been a while, you know,” Lockwood said. “We would like to reach out to the City of Petersburg. They have not reached out to us recently.”
According to a 2004 report, the Corps began a dredging project in 1993 with Powell as the project manager, but did not finish the job after coming across “contaminated materials” that halted the project.
“You could smell it,” Lockwood said. “It became a health and safety and environmental concern.”
There hasn’t been maintenance since, and there hasn’t been a full dredge since 1949 — 76 years ago.
City officials have tossed around the idea of deepening the channel in the harbor, but Powell said that wouldn’t necessarily alleviate the issues.
“I think it’s more about things that could slow water runoff, and that would be trees [and] vegetation,” he said.
“We’re the federal partner,” Lockwood said. “We, you know, we do have a responsibility to maintain the navigation channel but the non-federal sponsor, the City of Petersburg, has a responsibility to provide the lands, easements and rights of ways.”
City Manager John “March” Altman said he believes it’ll be in place through August.
The Corps said they want to sit back down with the city and work together.
