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Staff report: 11 minor tidal flood events this year and street sensor pilot flagged short, intense rain events
Summary
Robert reported 11 nuisance tide flood events year-to-date and described a new street-level sensor pilot (first alert May 31) that detected rapid, short-duration rainfall that triggered local flooding and road closures; staff plan a public dashboard and one more sensor off the peninsula.
Robert, a city staff member reporting on flood statistics and a new sensor pilot, told the committee that the city has recorded 11 minor high-tide (nuisance) flood events so far this year, all coinciding with predictable king-tide weeks.
“But then what about rain?” Robert asked rhetorically, and answered: short, intense rainfall is harder to predict. He told the committee that two logged rain-driven road closures occurred on June 1 and June 18 and that weather-station data show nearly a half inch of rain fell in roughly 15 minutes during one of the events; a similar burst produced close to 0.4 inches in an hour on June 18.
Robert described a recently installed real-time sensor on Ozier Street, a low point off Calhoun Street. The sensor—solar-powered and using a mobile network—sent its first alert for the May 31 event; staff validated it with traffic-camera imagery and used the alert to log closures and issue warnings on nearby corridors including parts of Calhoun and Vanderhorst.
Robert said the sensor network is low-cost and easy to install, and that the city plans to deploy a third sensor off the peninsula, publish a public dashboard and integrate alerts into automated road-closure and public-notification workflows. He noted those operational procedures still require policy decisions (for example, how deep water needs to be before a road is closed and when it should be reopened).
Robert framed the value of the sensors as detecting short-duration flood events that might otherwise go unreported and helping staff make faster operational decisions to warn the public.
