Transcript:
Hundreds of sensors mounted to road signs and telephone poles across New York City are gathering data – not about people or traffic, but about flooding.
Silverman: “With climate change, there’s a projected increase in the amount of flooding both due to high-intensity precipitation events and also due to sea level rise.”
Andrea Silverman of New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering helps lead the FloodNet Project.
Her team works with local residents and city agencies to identify streets and intersections that are prone to flooding during storms or high tides.
In those spots, they’ve installed about 300 solar-powered sensors that use ultrasound to detect and measure floodwater.
The data is transmitted in real time to a public online dashboard so people can see which areas are flooded and which roads are still safe to travel.
Silverman: “So if there’s a road that they typically use … they may need to know, is that road currently accessible? Can I pass through it or should I wait until floodwaters go down?”
Emergency services can also use the data to respond faster when flooding happens.
And over time, this highly specific information reveals exactly where flooding is worst – helping the city target flood prevention projects where they’re needed most.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
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