Alexandria neighbors discuss flooding issues along Glebe Road

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now) – People who live along E. Glebe Road in Alexandria are no strangers to flooding.

Leon Hargraves, who has lived in the Del Ray community for 40 years, said flooding in the area has been a continual issue for at least the past decade.

“It’s miserable,” Hargraves said. “It’s inconvenient. It just interrupts everything.”

Hargraves said when he first moved to the area in 1985, flooding wasn’t a problem.

“It started probably in 2015,” he said. “It started getting a lot worse now.”

Just last week, he said storms brought heavy rain and water up to his knees.

“I looked straight down and I could see all the water and cars floating. I tell people not to park here if they know it’s going to be bad weather because it’s going to flood. We need the City of Alexandria to do something because it’s getting worse and worse. It’s not getting any better,” Hargraves said.

Katie Dorgan also lives near E. Glebe Road. She said she’s not surprised by how much it flooded last week.

“It’s when the rain comes really fast,” Dorgan said. “When it’s like flash flood types of situations where the rain just hits heavy, and then the water just has nowhere to go, it fills up and floods.”

But they said the flood waters never stick around long.

“It goes down pretty fast, but the damage has already been done,” Hargraves said.

Although a flood watch was in place for much of the day Monday, neighbors said they aren’t too concerned, but they are watching.

“We’ll keep an eye out for sure,” Dorgan said. “Just because it can happen quick.”

The City of Alexandria has a flood mitigation project for the Del Ray area where they will be installing larger pipes. That project is scheduled to begin in summer 2026 and be completed by summer 2029.