Giles County installs five new flood sensors

NARROWS, Va. (WDBJ) - Flooding is one of the biggest weather hazards for Giles County. To help with early notification and to prepare, the county has installed five new flood sensors.

One is located along Big Stoney Creek and the others are along the New River in Pearisburg, Narrows, Pembroke and Eggleston. The sensors require minimal maintenance and operate off solar power. Plus, there is a camera on each sensor that will take a still shot of the river once a day.

“So this is really going to be great from an emergency services standpoint. It’s going to give us early notification. Just where we are we are upstream from a neighborhood that floods frequently and we have several campgrounds along the river that floods a lot. This will just be very valuable to us to provide early notification and safety to those folks that are along the river… the whole community is more prepared for the flooding event prior to it happening.”

Another initiative that Giles County is implementing are flood markers. Seven markers are positioned in various parts of the county to give a visual for citizens to see the impact of the river at a certain height.

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