About the Program
What is a vulnerability assessment?
Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to (sensitivity), and unable to cope with (adaptive capacity), adverse effects of extreme weather events like heavy precipitation. Vulnerability assessments help stakeholders identify:
- What changes in climate are projected to happen and what those changes could mean in terms of local impacts;
- The level of exposure the community has to potential changes;
- How sensitive the various city and community systems are to projected changes in climate; and
- What capacity those systems have to adapt.
What is adaptive capacity?
Adaptive capacity is defined as the ability of cities to better prepare for and respond to impacts of weather- and climate-related hazards and changes (e.g., inland flooding, storm surge, droughts, etc.). Participating communities will be able to assess their local adaptive capacity as a part of their customized vulnerability assessment, and the FloodWise project team will further analyze adaptive capacity through surveys, interviews, and a review of literature and publicly available documentation.
What are the program objectives?
FloodWise Communities has three main goals:
- Support communities in planning for extreme weather events and their impacts on their stormwater systems. We are committed to training and supporting all participating communities to complete a customized, guided, step-by-step vulnerability assessment for their local stormwater system using a web-based tool by incorporating tailored local data.
- Determine the ways our step-by-step tool, various technologies (e.g. webinars, online tutorials) and forms of engagement can help local communities, practitioners, and researchers collaborate to develop weather, climate, and socioeconomic information communities can use in existing local planning processes (i.e., emergency management, hazard mitigation, capital improvement).
- Share and communicate what we learn about participating cities’ experiences with the tool and different engagement methodologies and apply these findings to enhance the tool to support the planning needs of communities in the Great Lakes, the U.S. Gulf region, and across the United States.
Is this program about climate change?
This program aims to help communities better prepare for extreme weather and heavy precipitation events through providing custom vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessments. Though not specifically about climate change, FloodWise’s custom stormwater vulnerability assessments incorporate tailored weather, climate, and socioeconomic data. These customized data profiles and assessments assist communities in planning for future storms. Community participation helps our team better understand environmental risk and how to make vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning more effective and accessible to local governments.
Are there any risks to participating in this program? Which information will be made public and which information will remain confidential?
We do not anticipate any risks to communities or individuals participating in this program. The supporting team is trained to protect privacy and confidentiality for participants.
What will you do with the data? How will we learn about the findings?
The results of any research generated by the program may be presented at scientific or professional meetings, published in scientific journals, and shared with networks of researchers and practitioners (e.g., funding organizations like NOAA). In any public materials, all participants and community names will be de-identified, and only data that is already publicly available (weather, climate, and socioeconomic information) will be shared publicly. Individual names and titles of participants will not be used in any of the results unless we seek the individual’s specific approval to do so. The team will post these materials on this website and share them with participants.
Who funds FloodWise Communities?
The FloodWise Communities program has been developed over several years with financial support from a number of organizations, including the Urban Sustainability Directors Network in 2017, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sectoral and Applications Research Program (SARP) from 2018 to 2021, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) Gulf Research Program from 2019 to 2023.
Time Commitment and What to Expect
What is the time commitment for participants?
Participants can expect to spend roughly 24 working hours (the equivalent of 3, 8-hour work days) for on-boarding, engagement, and completing their vulnerability assessment. Based on the number of participating individuals and the scale of the assessment the community wants to complete, the time commitment may vary.
How many people must enroll for my community to participate?
We encourage communities to participate regardless of the number of individuals who can participate. That said, we think communities will see the most benefit with multiple people collaborating on the vulnerability assessment. Communities who have used this tool in the past reported some of the best benefits being better collaboration between municipal departments (e.g., between environmental and stormwater), so having representatives from different departments is a plus. In addition to municipal staff, participants can include other agencies who manage stormwater and/or have authority to make decisions about stormwater management, and other agencies whose work is impacted by extreme weather events.
Is there a cost to participate?
No, there is no cost to participate, and all trainings, resources and assessments are free to your community. The only resource cities will invest is time (approximately 24 hours or 3, 8-hour working days). We hope that participating in the program will actually save communities money by providing free and customized weather, climate and socioeconomic data as well as training on how to complete a vulnerability assessment for their stormwater system free of charge. Communities who have participated in the past estimate their participation saved them tens of thousands of dollars in consultant fees and anticipate saving additional money in the future by using this information to inform future decision making and better prepare their community for extreme weather events.
Is there any data or information we need to provide?
The program team will supply each participating community with customized weather, climate, and socioeconomic data profiles that will be used to complete their assessment. To strengthen your community’s assessment, you have the option of bringing additional city-specific data like impervious surface, tree coverage, slopes, elevations, and other land use information. This is not required.
About the FloodWise Tool
What is the FloodWise tool? How will it work?
The tool is an online, guided, step-by-step process that walks users through examining vulnerabilities to their community’s stormwater system such as high-risk pipes and infrastructure, capacity limitations and potential disruptions to critical infrastructure and emergency services. Practitioners respond to individual questions about their local stormwater system, incorporating local weather, climate, and socioeconomic data (provided by the project team) to produce a tailored, comprehensive stormwater system vulnerability assessment for their community. The program team will support participating communities in using the tool to complete this comprehensive assessment, including providing customized training materials. Multiple individuals from each participating community will be able to use the tool as they work together on the assessment.
How was the tool developed? Where did it come from?
The tool was first developed in 2017 in collaboration with five Great Lakes communities with funding from the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (in partnership with the Huron River Watershed Council, Headwaters Economics, GLISA, and the Great Lakes Climate Adaptation Network). In this phase, the project team and practitioners worked together to ensure the tool met the needs of small and mid-sized cities making decisions on updating and implementing existing planning processes. Next, with additional funding from the NOAA SARP program and the guidance of 12 additional Great Lakes cities (again working with the Huron River Watershed Council, the tool was adapted to specifically meet stormwater system planning needs. Then, the NAS GRP funded a three-year project to implement the tool in the U.S. Gulf region. Always improving, the tool is enhanced by user feedback, and as a participant, your insight is both valued and critical to ensuring the tool is useful for your community communities across the nation.
Where does the data for the tool come from?
Localized weather, climate, and socioeconomic data come from existing, credible, and publicly available data sources. The specific data sources are detailed in each of the materials made available to your community.
How can I use the results and information? How have other communities used this tool?
Communities that have used the tool previously report several beneficial outcomes from this information: updating land use plans and zoning ordinances, communicating extreme weather risks, developing public health initiatives, and more. Additional applications include increased awareness of vulnerable neighborhoods, improving hazard mitigation plans and emergency operations, identifying feasible green infrastructure projects, improving public outreach, and initiating cross-departmental conversations. This extensive assessment and engagement process will also identify best practices for building collaborative relationships that improve local stormwater systems and community resilience, which can be replicated throughout the US, further advancing local resilience to impacts of extreme weather events. For a detailed list of outcomes and quotes from cities who have used the tool, see our outcomes and testimonials report from our pilot projects.