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WRRC 2024 Fall Seminar

It's Flooding More Than We Know

by Dr. Katherine Anarde

Sea-level rise is increasing coastal flood exposure globally. Estimates of coastal flood frequency, particularly floods that occur outside of extreme events, are often based on tide gauge data. However, tide gauges are not intended to capture all sources of flooding, and they are geographically sparse. As a result, current tide gauge-based proxies for coastal flood frequency may not accurately reflect the experience of coastal residents. Here, we present results from an ongoing interdisciplinary project aimed at measuring the incidence and impacts of chronic coastal flooding. First, we describe flood frequency data from a new sensor network that measures the incidence of flooding from all sources, deployed in communities across North Carolina since 2021. Second, we present hyperlocal modeling to diagnose flood drivers and test community-developed adaptation strategies. Lastly, we present results from a set of household surveys characterizing flood disruptions to daily life. Our results show that when measured using sensors on land, flooding is occurring much more frequently than tide gauge data would suggest, often due to rain, wind, and local drainage infrastructure. Frequency varies substantially across small distances, further emphasizing the need for local data collection rather than relying on data from remote gauges. Disruptions to daily life are widespread, ranging from difficulty commuting to work and school to health concerns from contaminated floodwaters. Overall, our results demonstrate that many coastal residents are already experiencing harmful impacts from sea level rise and the frequency of such disruptions is much higher than previously thought.

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