Helping a community develop a watershed management plan, incorporating sea level rise and extreme rainfall data

Hallandale Beach Sea Level Rise and Critical Infrastructure Analysis

After a storm event, the City of Hallandale Beach pursued a Florida Resilient Coastlines grant to determine the effects of sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding on their stormwater system and other infrastructure assets. The City engaged us to assist in proactively identifying the effects of sea-level rise on their community—with the understanding that adverse impacts of sea-level rise pose economic, social, environmental, and public health and safety challenges.

Our vulnerability assessment measured the city’s at-risk critical assets and infrastructure. It considered stormwater infrastructure as well as public works and public utility infrastructure. Completing a physical survey of the entire city, we collected invert elevation and asset location along with material data. We developed a geographic information system (GIS) bathtub model to create the assessment, which assisted in the development of a statewide standard process for vulnerability assessment.

Our findings prompted the community to develop a watershed management plan, incorporating sea level rise and extreme rainfall data, and helped determine projects for future funding to address identified deficiencies.