StormSmart National Blog » training & outreach

NOAA Releases New Storm Surge Brochure

Wesley Shaw — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:54:46 +0000

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center Storm Surge Unit has put together a new brochure explaining the what storm surge is and how to best measure it.

There’s nothing here on how to prevent losses, but the before/after shots (on page 3) should motivate some people to think about how we need to plan for it.

Download “Introduction to Storm Surge” from the National Hurricane Center (PDF).

Homeowner Survey (With Prizes?)

Wesley Shaw — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:08:18 +0000

This just in from our friends at Rhode Island Sea Grant:

Ready for big weather, floods & wind damage? Click here to take our 30-minute survey and enter to win a $500, $75, or $25 gift card to Home Depot. Survey limited to 400 participants.

We are inviting 400 Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts homeowners ages 18 and older to participate in a survey to develop a better understanding of progress towards taking action to reduce your risk from increased storminess to help develop an Internet-based program.

This online survey will ask about your demographic information, history of impact from climate events, awareness of increased storminess, and attitudes toward adapting to increased storminess.

Questions? Contact Pamela Rubinoff of the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center and Rhode Island Sea Grant at (401) 874-6135 or email: climatesurvey@crc.uri.edu.

Making Insurance Seem Smarter

Wesley Shaw — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:11:34 +0000

Pretty clever marketing: FloodSmart.gov should do something like this for floods and flood insurance. Note, this requires FLASH and a decent Internet connection (or a lot of patience).

Happy Friday, everybody.

chaosinyourtown.com

What Do People Know About Flood Risk and How Do They Want to Learn More?

Wesley Shaw — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:40:26 +0000

Most of the general public (69%) doesn’t believe that they are at risk of flooding, though most (68%) local official know many are wrong to feel so safe. The public wants to hear about flood risk from municipal/county officials (47% want the mayor, 32% the floodplain manager)—unfortunately, nearly half (45%) report that they “never” do. As for methods to reach the public, almost everybody (87%) wants it via local news.

You can read a summary of the rest of what FEMA learned via a Risk MAP survey here. If you’d like to see the related survey of local officials, it’s here.

Image: Colin_K

Recording of Legal Webinar on Regulatory Takings and Climate Change Now Available for Streaming

Wesley Shaw — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:25:52 +0000

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant and partners have kindly shared a link to a video recording of their latest webinar “Legal Implications of Climate Change – Regulatory Takings.” You can watch the whole presentation (vide and audio) here.

Among other things, Stephanie Showalter Otts provides a good overview of the case history that guides decisions today, and some insight into how they might inform communities’ decisions today. We’ve added it to the legal resources section of our site.

Social Media as a Two-Way Street

Wesley Shaw — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 22:09:02 +0000

It’s interesting watching savvy municipal employees of all stripes shift from viewing social media as another means of talking to the public, to viewing it as a new way to communicate with the public (two-way communication vs one-way bullhorn).

The change is forcing professionals to view themselves as a node in the network of information, rather than the hub. Scary, sure (what if people say mean things? spread misinformation?), but it unlocks options that no agency or individual ever had before.

Earlier this month EmergencyManagement.com quoted Los Ranchos de Albuquerque’s Emergency Management Coordinator:

“I have trusted agents all over the state who I can ask to work with me directly when I am working on emergency response issues. They can have my back, watch for issues and trends, hit me up on the social media platforms to pass along road conditions, how much snow has fallen, what the wind speeds are.” [Emphasis added]

(The rest of the article is worth a read. Check it out here.)

How great is it to see more and more people starting to think like Craig Fugate (head of FEMA) who’s been arguing for ages that we need to stop viewing people in hazards as victims, and start thinking of them as resources?

Just because none of us is at the center of everything anymore doesn’t mean we’re not all important. There are challenges enough to go around. Especially during emergencies.

Image: Archer10 on Flickr.

Check out the New and Improved Coastal Community Resilience Index

Wesley Shaw — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:07:09 +0000

We at StormSmart are big fans of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium’s Coastal Community Resilience Index. For those not familiar with it, the Coastal Community Resilience Index (CRI) is a simple tool that provides a snapshot of a community’s resilience, and can help identify opportunities to improve.

Designed to take as little as two hours to complete, the CRI focuses on 6 areas (critical infrastructure and facilities, transportation issues, community plans and agreements, mitigation measures, business plans, and social systems), and is facilitated by a neutral, trained party. The CRI process is inclusive of city/county/parish staff, business representatives, and key local community members. There is no cost to communities. In addition, the CRI provides tie-ins to gain points in the Community Rating System.

There are some parts of it you may want to modify if you’re out of the Gulf of Mexico area—if so Jody Thompson, CRI Regional Outreach Coordinator (jody.thompson@auburn.edu or 251/438-5690) has offered to help answer questions.

For more information, visit the Coastal Community Resilience Index’s webpage. We’ve linked to it from our Finding and Using Additional Hazard Information page.

(Implementation of the CRI is a project of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Gulf of Mexico Program.)

Will the Next Hurricane Put You Underwater? New Site Shows How Deep

Wesley Shaw — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:32:52 +0000

Have a look at the new Miami-Dade County Storm Surge Simulator which lets you click on a map to show where you live and then select the severity of the storm before it shows you just how deep that water will be when that next hurricane hits. You can even select whether you want to see the depth shown on a person, a home, or a villa (I did mention this was for Miami, right?).

See the illustration or head over to the site to check it out.

Storm Surge Simulator

No Budget? No Problem. Mississippi Group Makes Hurricane Safety PSAs on a Shoestring

Wesley Shaw — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:20:39 +0000

With no funding (and a little help from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium), Mississippi’s C-HOST (Coastal Hazard Outreach Strategy Team) group has created some great quick public service announcements.

Below is one example, see the C-HOST videos page for more. (Does your group or community want its own StormSmart.org site? Let us know.)

US Army Corps of Engineers Uses Facebook for 2011 Mississippi River Flood Updates

Wesley Shaw — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:37:09 +0000

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division and its
districts have launched a new Facebook page to provide accurate, timely
information on the 2011 flood.

The page provides updates on the Corps of Engineers’ flood-fighting
activities, to include videos, photos and tweets; links to local
emergency management resources and federal coordinating agencies
assisting in the flood-fight; and the National Weather Service’s flood
forecasts.

Good to see another federal agency embracing social media. Thanks to John Bowie for sharing this.