Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Gis Sea Level Mapping topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
GIS map and tide‑gauge analysis show areas of Block Island vulnerable to storm surge and rising tides
Summary
A new GIS viewer and tide‑gauge analysis demonstrated how sea‑level rise and storm surge would flood streets and buildings in Block Island’s low‑lying areas. Presenters urged residents to document king tides using the MyCoast app and highlighted differences between projected sea‑level timelines and immediate storm surge risk.
A GIS-based mapping tool and a tide‑gauge analysis presented at the Coastal Resilience Committee meeting showed which streets and buildings on Block Island are most likely to flood from storm surge today and under projected sea‑level rise.
Jean Louis, a committee member who led the GIS work, demonstrated an interactive map that overlays protected lands, building footprints and projected water levels. He showed users how to toggle one‑, three‑ and five‑foot water levels and storm surge layers to see which structures and roads would be affected. “So every layer you can start to project, you have the 1 the 25 years, 2 feet and you can start to see some of the buildings start to be traded in the flood zone,” Jean Louis said.
Nigel, a committee member and tide‑gauge researcher, presented recent tide‑gauge data and used it to illustrate near‑term flood frequency. He said that when the historical high‑tide record is offset by a two‑foot sea‑level rise, the number of high‑tide flooding events would increase markedly. “If you count up the number, that would be 46 flooding events in this 3 month period,” Nigel said of a November–February sample period adjusted to a two‑foot rise.
Presenters noted differences between long‑term sea‑level projections and short‑term storm surge impacts. Jean Louis said his tool uses NOAA data and that a one‑foot rise is a commonly cited NOAA projection for a near‑term timeframe; other speakers cautioned that NOAA’s multi‑scenario projections have different timelines and that some scientific commentary points to different mid‑century timing for two‑foot scenarios.
Public outreach: Renee and other participants urged residents to document king tides and submit photos through the MyCoast app; Rhode Island Sea Grant ingests such citizen science submissions. The GIS tool’s creators and town staff discussed posting the viewer either on the town site or The Nature Conservancy’s website for public access.
Why it matters: The combined mapping and tide‑gauge work translates complex projections into place‑based visuals that residents and officials can use to prioritize resilience measures, target engineering work, and document current flooding.
