The Resilience Roundup highlights announcements, events, and funding opportunities along with links to the previous month's local, state, and national resilience news.
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Resilient Connecticut - Project Updates
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CIRCA Selects Contractors
Following the release of a Request for Qualifications earlier in 2020, a team led by Milone & MacBroom and Dewberry was selected to assist the Resilient Connecticut Team with the Phase II regional vulnerability assessment and planning process. The Phase II planning team, which also includes Western CT, Naugatuck Valley, Metro, and South Central Regional Councils of Governments, will now begin gathering and updating previous data from recent hazard mitigation, resilience, transportation, and other regional plans; identifying data gaps; and engaging stakeholders in Fairfield and New Haven Counties around regional zones of shared risk. Thank you to all of the contractors that submitted proposal. We appreciate your interest and consideration.
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CT Department of Public Health and CIRCA
Collaborate on a Sheltering Survey
Dr. Laura Hayes of the CT Department of Public Health, supported by Yale School of Public Health student, Nicholas Elton, collaborated with Dr. Joanna Wozniak-Brown of CIRCA to create a survey on cooling station and emergency sheltering practices throughout the state. We’ll be inviting emergency management directors, health departments/districts, and chief elected officials to complete the survey. The sheltering information will help inform policies, programs, and plans to assist in the coordination of emergency and climate change planning. For the Resilient Connecticut project, the location and shelter practices will directly inform our climate vulnerability assessment and resiliency planning. We thank you in advance for your participation.
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Estimating the Annual Exceedance Probability of Water Levels and Wave Heights from High Resolution Coupled Wave-Circulation Models in Long Island Sound
Understanding and assessing the risk posed by extreme storm events and floods is crucial for the successful resilience planning of coastal communities. There is limited tide gauge, buoy, and storm sensor data in Long Island Sound to project the extreme sea level statistics to determine the level of risk along the Connecticut coastline accurately.
To better assess risk, CIRCA reproduced the highest 44 storms between 1950 and 2018 using a coupled circulation and wave model. The modeled events are fit to a probability distribution to statistically estimate the annual exceedance probabilities and return periods for expected storms. The results presented here are to highlight the storm surge water levels and significant wave heights, which may contribute to a better understanding of extreme storms and guide decision-makers.
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Upcoming Events
The annual Resilient Connecticut Summit will still take place on November 20 but, instead of hosted by our friends at the UConn Law School campus, the event will be virtual. We're considering various formats that make virtual events successful. Feel free to email us at [email protected] if you have suggestions or have seen any great tools and presentations.
Similarly, we'll be hosting a public health and climate mini-webinar series on different topics throughout September. Stay tuned for more details on these events!
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FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Webinar Series
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FEMA is hosting a series of webinars to introduce their new
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities
(BRIC) grant program - The BRIC Summer Engagement Webinar Series.These virtual sessions are geared towards leaders in states, local communities, tribes and territories, as well as private sector entities, private non-profit organizations, and individuals interested in learning more about the grant program. The series will last every Wednesday throughout the month of July. Dates and webinar topics can be found at the link below.
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Climate & Weather Information for Water Utilities & Stormwater Managers Online Workshop
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NOAA and its partners at the Northeast Regional Climate Center are hosting a virtual workshop for small- to medium-sized water utilities and state/local stormwater managers serving populations of 100,000 or less. This series of 4 virtual sessions throughout the month of July (each 2 hours) is intended to assist in understanding precipitation extremes in a changing climate, and to access tools that will help build resilience to these extremes.
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Climate Justice and Recovery Post-COVID-19 Webinar: Social & Racial Inequality
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July 22, 2020, 9:00am - 10:30am
The Centre for Climate Justice is hosting a webinar in partnership with Chatham House regarding climate justice, just transition & racial inequality in wake of the COVID-19 crisis. In order to prevent dangerous levels of climate change and achieve a fair transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy, a new normal must be reached that addresses the social, climate and racial injustices that have so far characterized high-carbon economic growth.
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Georgetown Climate Center Launches Equitable Adaptation Legal & Policy Toolkit
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July 29, 2020, 1:00pm
To help communities address challenges of climate resilience and social inequality, the Georgetown Climate Center is partnering with leading experts to develop an Equitable Adaptation Legal and Policy Toolkit. The toolkit includes best emerging practices, legal and policy tools, and case studies centered on equitable adaptation solutions to help users to explore solutions linking equity and resilience. The launch of the toolkit will be accompanied by a webinar on July 29th.
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NOAA Announces Request for Comment on the Draft Prospectus of the Fifth National Climate Assessment
NOAA and the U.S. Global Change Research Program seek public comment on the proposed themes and framework of the Fifth National Climate Assessment.
Based on input received from this notice, USGCRP will develop an annotated outline, which will be released for public comment at a later date.
Comments will be accepted at the link below until
August 10th.
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Funding Opportunity: Coastal Watersheds Grant
The National Estuary Program's Coastal Watersheds Grant is a newly created, nationally competitive, grants program designed to support projects that address urgent and challenging issues that threaten the well-being of coastal and estuarine areas within determined estuaries of national significance. Letters of Intent are due by
5:00pm EST on August 7th
.
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Salt Marsh Rehab Underway at Newbury's Old Town Hill
The Daily News of Newburyport - June 24, 2020
Work is underway to rehabilitate 85 acres of compromised salt marsh at Old Town Hill in Newbury after preservationists obtained environmental and regulatory permits in the spring, according to Trustees of Reservations officials.
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New Model Suggests 46K CT Properties at Greater Risk of Flooding
The Hour - June 29, 2020
More than 46,000 Connecticut properties are greater risk of flooding than current federal estimates suggest, according to a new study. In regards to the accuracy of flood zone maps, CIRCA's Jim O'Donnell agrees the assessment of flood risk is a matter in which care should be taken.
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Green Infrastructure Can be Cheaper, More Effective Than Dams
The Scientific American - June 9, 2020
Hundreds of studies on nature-based solutions to extreme events show that green infrastructure is often cheaper and more effective than engineered projects like dams, levees and sea walls, according to a new analysis. Because of this, the report urges governments to allocate more funding to projects such as floodplain restoration.
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Climate Change Threatens to Wipeout Valuable Mangrove Ecosystems Entirely by 2050
The Weather Channel - June 10
, 2020
In a
new study
published in the journal
Science
, it is revealed that the growing threat of sea level rise may lead to mangroves becoming submerged below the seas in a matter of decades.
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International Satellite Providing Most Accurate Sea Level Data Completes Testing
Newsgram - June 14
, 2020
An international satellite that will collect data on sea levels around the world has completed all the tests ahead of its scheduled launch in November. Once in orbit, the satellite will collect sea level measurements down to the centimeter for 90% of the world’s oceans. The data will add to almost 30 years of information gathered by an uninterrupted series of joint US-European satellites, creating an unprecedented 40-year sea level dataset.
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Army Corps Develops $4.6 Billion Plan for Miami Storms
Stormwater Solutions -
June 19, 2020
The Army Corps of Engineers proposed a plan to create a network of more sea walls, gates and other barriers to protect the Miami waterfront from storms and hurricanes. The $4.6 billion plan is one of several drafted by the Corps to protect coastal areas in the U.S.
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The Links Between Racism and Climate Change
Yale Climate Connections - June 24, 2020
Yale Climate Connections has compiled samplings of different pieces discussing racial inequality in regards to climate justice across the nation.
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New Data Reveals Hidden Flood Risk Across America
The New York Times - June 29, 2020
Nearly twice as many properties may be susceptible to flood damage than previously thought, according to a new effort to map the danger.
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The Resilience Roundup highlights
CIRCA's
presence in the news, provides links to recent local/state/national news articles related to resilience and adaptation, and announces upcoming events and seminars.
The Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation's (CIRCA) mission is to increase the resilience and sustainability of vulnerable communities along Connecticut's coast and inland waterways to the growing impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the natural, built, and human environment. The institute is located at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus and includes faculty from across the university. CIRCA is a partnership between UConn and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP).
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