The Ripple Effect: Connecting Kids to Flood Awareness in Their Community

A visit from the City’s stormwater team turned into a big adventure for two third grade classes at Thalia Elementary School on June 2. Kyle Coolbaugh, Public Works’ Stormwater Extension Program manager, arrived with maps, graphs and a series of questions to get students thinking about flooding. For fun, he brought along a bag of stickers, pencils and the crowd-favorite dolphin squishies.

But the fun came with a serious lesson: Flooding in Virginia Beach is real; it happens close to home; and students have an important role to play. 

Flood Protection 101 for Kids

Coolbaugh walked students through the basics — flood types, the effects of tides and how the City works to keep neighborhoods safe. With Thalia Creek running just behind the school, he was able to point to the waterway they see every day and help them connect what they know to what happens in their own backyard. One message stood out: If your street floods, never play in the water, no matter how tempting it looks.  

Students were eager to share what they already knew and came prepared with questions of their own. “It’s terrific to speak to the next generation of our community about the seriousness of flooding. We need creative, engaged minds to be the problem solvers of the future, and after talking with the kids at Thalia Elementary, I believe we are in good shape,” said Coolbaugh. 

A New Resource for Fourth Grade Classrooms 

Next year, the same students will take that curiosity even further. As fourth graders, they’ll dive into a new classroom resource designed for teachers across Virginia Beach. Developed by the City to help introduce Flood Protection Program concepts to young learners, the curriculum explores local flooding challenges and encourages hands-on ways to understand and respond to them. 

“Fourth graders will become weather investigators,” said Nikki Holdcraft, the school’s instructional technology specialist. “They’ll use real tools like charts, graphs and tide maps to predict storms and think about how our community can prepare.”

The new resource fits easily into lessons about weather patterns, hurricane season or Virginia Flood Awareness Month in March. It ties directly to the 2018 Virginia Science Standards of Learning, including how weather affects ecosystems and why natural resources, such as watersheds and soil, need to be protected. 

Because Virginia Beach experiences everything from storm surge to flash flooding, understanding how water moves through the environment isn’t just a science requirement. It’s practical knowledge students can use in their daily lives. By giving teachers ready-made materials and students meaningful, real-world activities, the program helps students see how they can care for their community. And as Thalia’s third graders showed, they’re more than ready to jump in.

• Ripple Effect

The Virginia Beach Flood Protection Program — The Ripple Effect — is a comprehensive 10-year plan to address recurrent flooding in Virginia Beach. In November 2021, Virginia Beach voters overwhelmingly supported a resiliency package for several key flood protection initiatives to include drainage improvements, tide gates, pump stations and flood barriers throughout the city. The projects are led by Public Works with support from a community oversight board for transparency and accountability. Learn more at VirginiaBeach.gov/RippleEffect.