Cambridge Displays Berm as Example of Flooding Resiliency

(CAMBRIDGE, Md) – Underneath some of the snow that fell in Dorchester County, is a look in to what could be part of preventing localized flooding in Cambridge.

The City of Cambridge is displaying a berm in Long Wharf Park through the beginning of December. It’s an idea of how to prevent over the street flooding along the Choptank River.

Larry White, who oversees the Cambridge Resilience Project says they need something more than slide shows to show people what a solution could potentially look like.

Larry tells WMDT, “They wanted to see, ‘Well how is this going to impact what are their view of the water?’ Okay. And so we said, look, we can we return them by elevation, we can show pictures, but they wanted something physical, so we built this model.”

The example berm is only around three feet high, which is the final plan if it gets made.

Dirt would be used to create a sort of levee not a standalone model.

And the berm needs to serve multiple purposes in preventing flooding.

“If we don’t address our flooding, we will continue to treat floodwaters at our wastewater treatment plant, which adds additional cost to people in their water bill…” says Cambridge City Manager, Glenn Steckman.

Many solutions for the Cambridge Resilience plan have received a variety of responses. And this model berm in Long Wharf Park is no exception after a week on display.

“It’s mixed. We got, some that are really thick. It’s a really great idea. It looks good. And I go, there’s a said, no, I don’t really like it. So it’s a mix. And this is what we would expect,” says Larry.

City leaders are now urging those who live along the water to at least come see it. It’s so people can get an idea of how it can prevent flooding.

Glenn says, “Well, we want people to see get a better visual and understanding in their minds versus what they may have thought the, the, this process was about to get a better understanding.”

People are going to get a chance to hear more about the berms and how they work. The city of Cambridge is hosting a public education session on Wednesday, December 10th, starting at 6 P.M.