FloodsHelping Urban Communities Install Low-Cost Sensors to Reduce Flood Risks

Published 18 September 2020

Floods are costly and dangerous events that impact communities across the U.S. every year. DHS S&T released a guidebook to help communities deploy and operate low-cost sensors for flood monitoring and management.

Floods are costly and dangerous events that impact communities across the U.S. every year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted above-normal activity for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, running from June 1 through November 30. The month of August saw the unusual event of two weather systems coinciding in the Gulf of Mexico, with Marco weakening into a tropical depression just before making landfall in Louisiana and Laura slamming into the Louisiana-Texas border area as a category 4 hurricane. In addition to high winds, such events bring storm surge concerns and rising waters can quickly overcome citizens. Any advance notice of flood risks and the ability for emergency management agencies to appropriately plan is vital to saving lives and protecting property.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHSScience and Technology Directorate (S&T) released Low Cost Flood Sensors: Urban Installation Guidebook to do just that—help communities deploy and operate low-cost sensors for flood monitoring and management. The guidebook captures the process and results of a recent 18-month operational test of S&T’s low-cost sensors (LCS) in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, from the initial steps of selecting sensor locations and installation to operation and maintenance. Best practices are now available for other regions across the country to learn from while implementing their own sensor infrastructure.

“S&T partnered with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services (SWS) for the leadership in flood risk management and technology innovation,” said Dr. David J. Alexander, DHS senior science advisor. “The Flood Apex program was looking for partners interested in driving research to action. Charlotte stepped up to the plate offering a unique opportunity to evaluate and demonstrate new risk methods and technologies in a living laboratory that experiences inland and urban flash flooding and occasional hurricane-related flood events within a large and growing metro area. The community guidebook is a key outcome of the project. S&T is optimistic that the guidebook will find a wide audience since it was developed by a local and nationally-recognized community leader in storm water services and flood risk, is in line with current FEMA and commercial insurance trends, and can take advantage of emerging technologies, such as the new low-cost flood sensors and other risk tools from the project.”