PETERSBURG, Va. — Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham announced Thursday that the city is nearly 80 years behind the ball when it comes to a massive dredging project of the Appomattox River, which is partly to blame for the flooding the city experienced Monday and Tuesday.
"The last time the Appomattox was dredged was in 1949, do you hear me? 1949!" Parham said.
That was even before the construction of Interstate 95.
Photos of how the Appomattox used to flow in the 1940s and 1960s document just how different the river was compared to footage captured by the city just a few days ago.
Parham said partial dredges were conducted on the Appomattox in the 1970s and 1993. That later project was halted due to pollution and other hazardous materials found inside the river where it connected with the James River. But since then, there's been little progress on addressing further maintenance of the river.
"In 2007, congressman Randy Forbes secured $1.4 million for the Appomattox river dredge project and then 2009 congressman Forbes secured $527,000 for the River Dredging and in 2014, the cost of dredge was at $15 million," Parham said.
Those figures pale in comparison to what a present-day cost would be, which is why Parham says the clock is ticking to secure necessary funds to restore the flow of the Appomattox near Petersburg.
"This is something that can't be accomplished on the backs of the Petersburg taxpayer," Parham said.
Parham said the city is open to any and all funding sources, including public and private partnerships, state and federal dollars from the local state of emergency declaration, and potential funds from the Live Casino.
Ultimately, Parham hopes the attention Petersburg is getting now will help put pressure to get these critical projects completed sooner.
"To really fix these problems, the dredging has to occur for us to divert the water because if not, we've always had flooding downtown, but we can no longer sit aside and hope it's not gonna happen again," Parham said.
City leaders don't yet have a timeline for how soon the Appomattox can be dredged because they're still waiting on crucial funds. In the meantime, city leaders are asking residents to continue providing information about any damaged property to the emergency management team via email at
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky | Facebook | Instagram | X | Threads | TikTok | YouTube
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom, click here.
