Pinellas County previews draft flood vulnerability assessment, says effort positions county for state resilience funding

Pinellas County on Monday presented draft results of a countywide Flood Vulnerability Assessment designed to identify which public assets are most vulnerable to coastal storm surge, tidal flooding, extreme rainfall and groundwater rise and to help the county compete for state resilience grants.

"This assessment goes beyond technical analysis. It's a roadmap for protecting the critical infrastructure that keeps our community functioning," said Kelly Hammer Levy, director of the Pinellas County Department of Public Works, in opening remarks. County staff said the work is required to participate in Florida's Resilient Florida program and that completing the assessment helps unlock state funding for mitigation projects.

The assessment, led by Pinellas County Public Works with consultant HDR, inventories roughly two million county-level assets and runs 21 flood scenarios across multiple planning horizons (base year, 2040 and 2070). "We collected critical-infrastructure data mainly using the county's very robust asset management program," said Sharon Wright, resilience practice lead with HDR. The methodology layers exposure (whether an asset is touched by floodwaters), sensitivity (how severely it would be affected) and criticality (how essential…