Coastal resilienceApp offers St. Petersburg residents information on flood levels, storm surges

Pinellas County, Florida, Emergency Management director Sally Bishop is preparing to unveil a new Storm Surge Protector computer application which would provide residents of St. Petersburg with realistic views of potential flood levels as the 2015 hurricane season approaches.

As theSt. Petersburg Tribune reports, the app will allow people to enter any Pinellas County address and see the property’s evacuation zone and get an animated view of the structure and the water levels to expect in the area under a range of hurricane categories.

“I want to make it personal to them,” Bishop said. “I want people to see this. The reason is simple. Nine in 10 hurricane deaths are related to the surging water that races through and over neighborhoods, streets, homes and vehicles. They don’t die from wind, they die from water.”

During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many of the roughly 1,600 fatalities and $108 billion in damage stemmed directly or indirectly from water surges. Storm surge has become a top concern within many coastal communities around Florida.

“That is what we know is the biggest killer, the storm surge. So people really need to know that [evacuation] zone,” said Preston Cook, the Emergency Management director of nearby Hillsborough County.

One fear, say planners, is that since it has been nine years since a major hurricane has hit Florida many residents may have begun to not take hurricane threats seriously enough.

“People can’t visualize it. They have never experienced it,” added Bishop.

The app first began development two years ago, when she wanted to find a better way to get the message across. It was completed late last summer.

“[The app] is based on property records and storm and flood models from the National Hurricane Center,” she said. “I’m trying to give [residents] ways to understand this stuff is really dangerous. If they don’t internalize this — that this can kill me — they’re not going to plan to go anywhere. My hope is that with this kind of information, people can make better decisions.”

The flooding imagery on the Web site shows that at only two feet of storm surge, electrical outlets in a house can be covered and cars may start to float and move with stronger currents. Simulations at sixteen feet can simulate swamped buildings and completely trapped residents due to blocked exits.

The Storm Surge Protector app is available at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency for Panellas County and a similar service is up at www.hillsboroughcounty.org/emergency for Hillsborough.