Background and Objectives

With funding from the RI Office of Community and Housing Development and in coordination with RI Coastal Resources Management Council (RI CRMC), researchers from the University of RI, Ocean Engineering and Environmental Data Center have developed STORMTOOLS Design Elevation (SDE) Maps. These maps have been designed to represent the once in hundred-year flooding and associated wave environment, and explicitly include the effects of sea level rise.

Following FEMA methodology, the maps are provided in the form of Base Flood Elevations (BFE) and can be used to assist in the design of structures and infrastructure in the state. They have also been specifically structured to support CRMC’s new risk-based application review detailed in Chapter 5 of the CRMC Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan (Beach SAMP). (See: http://www.beachsamp.org/beachsamp-document/). The SDE maps are available online for the southern RI coast and Narragansett Bay (https://crc-uri.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html).

Two training session will be held to help in using SDE maps for permit application guidance and engineering design targeted at coastal communities, regulators, and the engineering community responsible for the design of structures and infrastructure. The first will be held on October 24, 2018 for engineering consultants and municipal officials (town engineer, planner, building officials, etc.) in the Challenger Conference Room, Ocean Science & Exploration Center, University of RI,Bay Campus, Narragansett, RI and the second on November 9, 2018 for state agency permitting staff (CRMC, DEM, DOT, etc.) at Department of Administration Conference Room 2B Conference Room, 1 Capitol Hill Street, Providence, RI.

For more information please see http://www.crmc.ri.gov/news/2018_1004_stormtools.html