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Brooklyn College professor’s flood project showcased for Climate Week

October 4, 2024 Mandie-Beth Chau
Brett Branco, founder of FloodNet. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn College
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MIDWOOD — Brooklyn College Professor Brett Branco launched FloodNet in 2022 to address flooding issues through a free online tool, and the project was showcased at a Climate Week event at the college.

“We typically do these workshops in neighborhoods affected by flooding, but since it is Climate Week, we decided to invite people to Brooklyn College to learn more about the technology,” said Branco. “These workshops help ensure that the data we produce are useful and usable by people, so we can be better prepared for flooding.”

The Climate Week workshop, “Engaging Communities With Flood Sensor Data and Storytelling,” offered attendees an opportunity to interact with FloodNet by using data from flood sensors installed across New York City. From this interactive experience, participants got a firsthand look at how the technology works and how it can be used in a community setting. The event was co-hosted by the SRIJB, New York Sea Grant, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and FloodNet, in partnership with the New York Climate Exchange.

“This is the first time that quantitative data on urban flood occurrence, depth, and duration have been measured and provided to the public — we’re excited to share the dashboard with communities, city agency partners, and other researchers,” said Andrea Silverman, an assistant professor of environmental engineering at New York University (NYU). “We’ve heard many stories and desired use cases for the data from a variety of stakeholders, and are looking forward to seeing how these communities end up using the real-time and historic flood data.”

Peak storm season in the New York City region is from August to October, though storm season officially begins in June and lasts until the end of November. With accelerating climate change, storms can be more frequent and extreme, leaving devastating effects. FloodNet was launched on Sept. 1, 2022, one year after Hurricane Ida caused deadly flooding

The FloodNet workshop during Climate Week. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn College
The FloodNet workshop during Climate Week. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn College

As part of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the executive director of the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay (SRIJB) at Brooklyn College, Branco developed FloodNet as the first free online tool to notify agencies and communities of where, when and how quickly flood waters are rising. Researchers, government agencies and community organizations collaborated on the project to raise awareness and pose solutions to flooding and flood-related issues. 

“We’ve been working with both communities and government for years to better understand the impact that flooding has on the lives of New York City residents,” Branco said. “From the frequent nuisance flooding due to high tides around Jamaica Bay to the catastrophic flooding across all five boroughs that occurs during coastal storms and extreme rainfall events, FloodNet and the data dashboard will help New York City find equitable solutions to these problems.”

The dashboard collects and presents real-time data from FloodNet’s low-cost, open-source sensors in flood-prone areas. Researchers determine the locations for the sensors based on an analysis of stormwater risk, tidal flooding risk, storm damage, environmental justice history, social vulnerability, critical infrastructure and proximity to wireless network connections.

On Sept. 9, Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city is on track to have 500 flood sensors installed in priority flooding areas across the boroughs by 2027, and the 200th sensor was just installed in Corona, Queens, in September. 

“I’m a big believer in technology to run our city smarter,” Adams said, adding that the sensors and dashboard will provide the city with critical infrastructure in order to advice evacuations, travel bans or road closures.

“This is more than infrastructure; it’s how we are going to protect our city and people from rising sea levels and stronger storms,” Adams said. “This is how we are going to lead. Everyone takes notice of what happens here in New York and what happens here cascades to the rest of the country.”

Photo courtesy of Brooklyn College
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn College

Researchers from the SRIJB at Brooklyn College, NYU Tandon’s Center for Urban Science and Progress and the Advanced Science Research Center at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center contributed to the development and execution of FloodNet, along with the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and the New York City Office of Technology and Innovation. 

“An exciting aspect of the Floodnet project is that we’re also using it to train the next generation of young environmental scientist and community-based stewards through the involvement of New York City-based high school, community college, and undergraduate students who help us assemble, install and maintain the sensors,” said Ricardo Toledo-Crow, director of the ASRC Next Generation Environmental Sensors Lab, who helped design the sensors.

FloodNet was funded by C2SMART Tier 1 U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Center at NYU Tandon, the NYU Marron Institute and the CUNY Office of Research.





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