CIRCA Selects Contractors
Following the release of a Request for Qualifications earlier in 2020, a team led by Milone & MacBroom and Dewberry was selected to assist the Resilient Connecticut Team with the Phase II regional vulnerability assessment and planning process. The Phase II planning team, which also includes Western CT, Naugatuck Valley, Metro, and South Central Regional Councils of Governments, will now begin gathering and updating previous data from recent hazard mitigation, resilience, transportation, and other regional plans; identifying data gaps; and engaging stakeholders in Fairfield and New Haven Counties around regional zones of shared risk. Thank you to all of the contractors that submitted proposal. We appreciate your interest and consideration.
CT Department of Public Health and CIRCA Collaborate on a Sheltering Survey
Dr. Laura Hayes of the CT Department of Public Health, supported by Yale School of Public Health student, Nicholas Elton, collaborated with Dr. Joanna Wozniak-Brown of CIRCA to create a survey on cooling station and emergency sheltering practices throughout the state. We’ll be inviting emergency management directors, health departments/districts, and chief elected officials to complete the survey. The sheltering information will help inform policies, programs, and plans to assist in the coordination of emergency and climate change planning. For the Resilient Connecticut project, the location and shelter practices will directly inform our climate vulnerability assessment and resiliency planning. We thank you in advance for your participation.
Estimating the Annual Exceedance Probability of Water Levels and Wave Heights from High Resolution Coupled Wave-Circulation Models in Long Island Sound
Understanding and assessing the risk posed by extreme storm events and floods is crucial for the successful resilience planning of coastal communities. There is limited tide gauge, buoy, and storm sensor data in Long Island Sound to project the extreme sea level statistics to determine the level of risk along the Connecticut coastline accurately.
To better assess risk, CIRCA reproduced the highest 44 storms between 1950 and 2018 using a coupled circulation and wave model. The modeled events are fit to a probability distribution to statistically estimate the annual exceedance probabilities and return periods for expected storms. The results presented here are to highlight the storm surge water levels and significant wave heights, which may contribute to a better understanding of extreme storms and guide decision-makers.
Upcoming Events
The annual Resilient Connecticut Summit will still take place on November 20 but, instead of hosted by our friends at the UConn Law School campus, the event will be virtual. We’re considering various formats that make virtual events successful. Feel free to email us at circa@uconn.edu if you have suggestions or have seen any great tools and presentations.
Similarly, we’ll be hosting a public health and climate mini-webinar series on different topics throughout September. Stay tuned for more details on these events!