Resource Database

The resource database is a comprehensive catalogue of all the materials on the Resilient Connecticut website. Select your Resource Type, Focus Area and/or Town to access a filtered selection of Resilient Connecticut materials.

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Focus Area

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Changing Climate: Boys & Girls Club of Milford plants Living Shoreline

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In the Media

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Flood and Sea Level Rise

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Newington

by Claudia S. Hilario @NEWBRITHERALD, Mar 27, 2025

NEW BRITAIN — Residents of New Britain, Berlin and Newington are encouraged to attend a forum on Wednesday to discuss ways to reduce flooding in high-risk areas.

The meeting will focus on properties along Piper Brook and Webster Brook. Attendees can brainstorm ideas from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Alvarium Beer Co., Room B-side, 365 John Downey Drive in New Britain.

The Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation at the University of Connecticut (UCON) is studying the Piper Brook and Webster Brook corridors.

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Reflecting on Progress: CIRCA’s Decade of Increasing Connecticut’s Climate Resilience

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In the Media

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In the Media

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Heat

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Applies to Multiple Towns

By Kevin Gaiss • Published September 25, 2024 • Updated on September 25, 2024 at 5:47 pm

DEEP announced the next phase of their Climate Resiliency Fund and is in the process to gain information from towns.

Connecticut is no stranger to extreme weather. Just last month, an unprecedented deluge of rain devastated towns in parts of western Connecticut. Now, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has announced its next phase of helping towns and cities adapt to inclement weather.

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New London flood prevention plan envisions ‘linear park’ along waterfront

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In the Media

Focus Area:

Flood and Sea Level Rise

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As seas and temperatures rise, the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation uses research and community engagement to protect communities across the state

Between scorching summers and unprecedented storms, the consequences of climate change have crashed down on Connecticut in recent years. Policymakers, urban planners, and resource managers are needing to make decisions with new threats in mind: more extreme weather events, heat, and sea level rise. This last threat is something James O’Donnell, professor of marine sciences and director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) at UConn Avery Point, knows a lot about. A physical oceanographer, his research focuses on circulation and mixing in the ocean. These factors influence how sea levels will respond to climate change.

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Is your neighborhood at risk in extreme weather?

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In the Media

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Flood and Sea Level Rise

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Applies to Multiple Towns

insideinvestigator.org by Tricia Ennis, July 25, 2024 When Connecticut experiences an extreme weather event, how much are you and your family at risk? A new dashboard from the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) at the University of Connecticut aims to help answer that question, down to your street. In the Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), researchers at CIRCA developed an equation to estimate how areas of the state could be impacted by extreme weather, like severe storms or high heat. The equation combines the physical characteristics of an area with the type of population or services that could be affected and factors in any community resilience or other adaptive assets it has.

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Fallout from climate change in CT: Focus moves to inland towns that will be hit hard

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In the Media

Focus Area:

Flood and Sea Level Rise

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Applies to Multiple Towns

Story by Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant

The consequences of climate change are easy to understand along Connecticut’s coastline where the sea is now forecast to rise 20 inches by 2050.

But researchers at the University of Connecticut also are now turning their attention to inland Connecticut and places that are not anywhere near the coast or even a large waterway such as the Connecticut River.

Scientists at the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation are examining how more sudden, intense rainstorms are overwhelming decades-old drainage systems, leading to more frequent flooding.

“We’re seeing more of these high-intensity rain events, and then, the water is just coming down faster than it can drain away,” Mary Buchanan, a community resilience planner at CIRCA, said. “You don’t have to be anywhere near the coast to be experiencing climate change.”

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Devastating flood highlights need for climate resiliency

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In the Media

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Flood and Sea Level Rise

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Applies to Multiple Towns

By Mike Savino • Published August 20, 2024 • Updated on August 20, 2024 at 5:04 pm

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In a summer of severe flooding in New England, a 1,000-year storm hit Connecticut. Here’s how.

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In the Media

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Flood and Sea Level Rise

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Applies to Multiple Towns

The weather models didn’t see it coming. But “training” storms and an already primed atmosphere converged to deliver a surge of devastating rainfall.

By Chris Gloninger and Erin Douglas Globe Staff, Updated August 21, 2024,11:08 a.m.

On Aug. 19, 1955, the unimaginable happened.

A downgraded hurricane named Diane blasted the small rural town of Burlington, Conn., with a record 12-plus inches of rain and left 77 people dead statewide. Residents thought they had seen the worst of Mother Nature.

Then came this past Sunday, 69 years later to the day. And this time southwestern Connecticut felt the blow not from a hurricane and its the driving rain and slashing winds but from a storm so strong and so unusual in its ferocity that scientists categorized it as a historic, “1-in-1,000-year storm.” It broke Diane’s rainfall record by several inches.

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How can Connecticut prepare for a 1,000-year flood? It can’t, but strategy is changing

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In the Media

Focus Area:

Flood and Sea Level Rise

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Applies to Multiple Towns

By Jordan Nathaniel Fenster, Staff writer Aug 21, 2024

https://www.ctinsider.com/

Sunday's storms have been described in many ways: a rain bomb, training storms, flash floods.

And then there is 1,000-year flood.

The devastating storm that flooded parts of Connecticut and swept away roads was far more than infrastructure could handle. Twelve-plus inches of rain fell in a short period, or three months worth of rain for the state.

But what exactly is a 1,000-year flood? No, it's not a flood that happens once only every 1,000 years, but instead a flood that has a one in 1,000 chance of happening in any given year, as the U.S. Geological Survey explained. That calculation — how often flooding events are likely to happen, is part of how flood risk maps are derived.

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Summer heat smashed records a CT city study seeks out neighborhoods suffering the most

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In the Media

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Heat

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Applies to Multiple Towns

Hartford Courant Summer heat smashed records a CT city study seeks out neighborhoods suffering the most

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Opinion: Protecting Connecticut workers from heat is a hot topic

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In the Media

Focus Area:

Heat

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Applies to Multiple Towns

Applies to Multiple Towns

Climate Change Vulnerability Index
CCVI Flood Viewer
CCVI Extreme Heat Viewer
Zones of Shared Risk Viewer
Connecticut Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Viewer
Connecticut Coastal Towns Storm Annual Exceedance Probability/Return Interval Viewer

Regional Workshop – CCVI & ZSR ñ MetroCOG Presentation Recording

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Presentations

Focus Area:

Planning

Applies to Multiple Towns

CIRCA interview that discusses how global climate crisis is impacting Connecticut.

By James Szkobel-Wolff,

Zshekinah Collier, Catie Talarski, Khalilah Brown-Dean

Published June 16, 2021

After years of warning from scientists, the global climate crisis is impacting Americans across the country. This year, we’ve already seen unprecedented ice storms across Texas and one of the worst droughts in modern history in the west. But what kind of changes can we expect in Connecticut? This hour on Disrupted, we dig into the ways our changing climate is affecting our state. GUESTS:

Kirby C. Stafford, Chief Entomologist for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES)
Jim O’Donnell, Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of Connecticut and Executive Director of Connecticut Institute of Resilience and Climate Adaptation (CIRCA)
J.D. Allen, Assistant news director and reporter for WSHU

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Applies to Multiple Towns

As the climate changes and precipitation becomes more intense, the impacts of stormwater runoff will become more frequent, severe, and widespread. Regulations to protect the environment require municipalities, developers, industry, and large commercial sites to take action to reduce stormwater entering waterways, but when storms are severe, the existing infrastructure may be inadequate. One way communities can address pollutants in runoff and improve resilience to extreme precipitation events is to upgrade stormwater management practices and infrastructure. But this takes dedicated funding.

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Stormwater and Climate Resilience Factsheet

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Infographics and Fact Sheets

Focus Area:

Flood and Sea Level Rise

Applies to Multiple Towns

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Transit Oriented Development for a more Resilient CT Presentation Recoding

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Presentations

Focus Area:

Planning

Applies to Multiple Towns

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Resilient Connecticut Planning Framework

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Publications and Reports

Focus Area:

Planning

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Applies to Multiple Towns

During Phase I of the project, the CIRCA team engaged a broad range of stakeholders on the development of a Resilient Connecticut Planning Framework. This Framework will guide the plans, projects, and research activities initiated during Phases II and III and will build on the range of ongoing climate adaptation activities occurring in the state. The Framework will connect science-based risk assessment with innovative design strategies and apply them to practical planning practices. The RCPF will introduce a variety of applied tools and methodologies intended to influence Connecticut's resilience planning moving forward, focusing on five themes.

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