DisastersStorm-surge app improves public and administration responses to flooding

An environmental group called Wetlands Watch in Virginia has integrated crowd-sourcing into the Sea Level Rise app, allowing users to issue and receive alerts in real-time regarding waterlogged streets and improve public safety.

As the Daily Press reports, the newest evolution of the app is expected to be launched within the next few weeks and the information provided and distributed to users will also be tracked by scientists and emergency planners to better grasp the flood patterns in the region and how to prepare for them.

“Anyone can drop a pin and say, ‘Boom, flooded,” said Skip Stiles, the executive director for Wetlands Watch.

The app is coupled with an interactive storm-surge map developed by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) which highlights areas most at risk and possible worst-case scenarios that may be likely. Users — affectionately referred to by Stiles as “floodies” — can enter any address and view the projected impact that storm might have in that location.

“Historically, 90 percent of the time, it’s the inundation of water that kills, not the wind,” said Jeff Stern, the state coordinator of VDEM, highlighting the reasoning for developing the app in such a fashion.

The program, considered version 1.0, was developed with data from the Virginia Hurricane Evacuation Study — a joint undertaking by VDEM, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The app was created by the Concursive Corporation, a software development firm located in Norfolk, Virginia. The project also received partial funding from the Blue Moon Fund of Charlottesville.

Version 2.0, which is the latest to debut shortly, adds the element of crowd-sourcing with information from the “floodies” to add the element of real-time connectivity.

“It’s a great effort to try to crowd-source the information — and maybe the solution — to our flooding problem,” Stiles said, “You can start bootstrapping your own attempts to solve it. The more people you’ve got asking for solutions, the more likely you are to have solutions.”

Key areas in Virginia — especially the area of Hampton Roads — are second only to New Orleans within the country when it comes to being at risk to the effects of sea level rise from storm-surges.