Flood resilience master planning in the Boston Harbor
- Przykłady wykorzystania
This Boston Harbor school is making flood resilience part of the curriculum.
The Cathleen Stone Island Outward Bound School is located on a small Boston Harbor island, the perfect location for a progressive educational institution with a mission to promote lifelong learning rooted in the outdoor experience. But during storm events, finding one’s way to class inherently becomes a lesson on flood hazards. The Cathleen Stone Island Conceptual Modernization Masterplan seeks to mitigate flood risk, and to use the flood-prone conditions as a learning opportunity for students through enhanced programming.
Hannah Wilson, Senior Resilience Planner, and Kara Slocum, PE, Senior Civil & Resilience Engineer, led the master planning effort. They referenced the Massachusetts Coastal Flood Risk Model (MC-FRM) to account for storm surge and sea-level rise, but ran into a problem when trying to characterize flood impacts from rainfall: They had no baseline or existing conditions data, and no room in the budget to procure it through traditional methods.
“We didn't have any understanding of how water behaved on-site,” Hannah recalls. “But Scalgo Live quickly filled that gap,” Kara states.
“Scalgo Live is both technically robust and visually intuitive. Scalgo Live gave us a fast, data-rich, and interactive way to model flood hazard for precipitation-based flooding, which ultimately supported a smarter design and more effective risk communication to our client.”
Kara Slocum, Senior Civil & Resilience Engineer at Arup
Explore surface flow networks at any level of detail.
Hannah and Kara used the Flash Flood Map to determine flash flood corridors and areas with a high propensity for localized flooding.
“I was immediately able to identify if critical low-lying infrastructure aligned with flood paths, and see if they needed to be elevated or relocated,” Hannah says. The client found the results to be accurate, verifying that a major surface flow path highlighted by the analysis aligned with historical observations of washout.
“Scalgo Live made it easier for us to engage directly with our stakeholders, and explain these more complex and nuanced flood risks in a way that was accessible and visual.”
Kara Slocum, Senior Civil & Resilience Engineer at Arup
The interactive rainfall slider allowed Kara to assess exposure and vulnerability at different rainfall depths, up to the 18-inch Hurricane Diane equivalent.
“The Flash Flood Map was key to helping our team and stakeholders visualize existing site risks, and how they evolve under various conditions,” Kara shares.
Drag the rainfall slider to investigate how flood depths evolve under various conditions.
Hannah and Kara used the flood banding feature to illustrate various levels of risk associated with flood depths, and prioritize mitigation efforts accordingly. The colorful maps simplified communication with architects, designers, and the client.
“Scalgo Live made it easier for us to engage directly with our stakeholders, and explain these more complex and nuanced flood risks in a way that was accessible and visual,” Kara explains.
After completing the desktop review in Scalgo Live, Hannah optimized her site visit. She was able to head directly to known flood-prone areas to spend more time brainstorming solutions with the client, as well as opportunities to enhance educational programs and services.
Hannah Wilson showcases the Cathleen Stone Island Conceptual Modernization Masterplan.
“Scalgo Live is both technically robust and visually intuitive. Scalgo Live gave us a fast, data-rich, and interactive way to model flood hazard for precipitation-based flooding, which ultimately supported a smarter design and more effective risk communication to our client,” Kara summarizes.
See the full webinar
For more inspiration on how to use the Flash Flood Mapping Tool in Scalgo Live, watch the webinar "Solving Surface Water Challenges in the US."
