FloodVision Case Study
A regional approach to communicating flood risk in Northeast Florida
The challenge: Bringing consistency to regional resilience planning and flood risk communications to Florida’s First Coast
The counties that make up Florida’s First Coast include Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties and include well known places such as Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island, and the historic City of St. Augustine. All are vulnerable to intensifying storm events and rising sea levels.
In the fall of 2024, Climate Central partnered with the Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC) on a pilot project using an innovative technology to support resilience planning efforts and enhance risk communications. The NEFRC has been proactive in bringing together subject matter experts with diverse backgrounds to tackle regional challenges from the effects of climate change, including coastal flooding, rising seas, and other hazards. The field of resiliency is relatively new, and a key goal was to create consistency in communicating risk to local officials, businesses, and community members.
What is the NEFRC?
The Northeast Florida Regional Council (NEFRC) is a regional planning agency made up of elected officials and representatives from 7 counties and 25 municipalities, covering over 4,000 square miles and 1.5 million residents. The 35-member Board of Directors consists of locally elected county and municipal officials (two-thirds), gubernatorial appointees (one-third) and also has 4 non-voting ex-officio Governor’s appointees representing state and regional agencies. The council’s activities focus on economic and community development, emergency preparedness, and resiliency. With a jurisdiction that includes 140 miles of coastline and five barrier islands boasting some of the state’s most well-known beaches, the area is also known as “Florida’s First Coast.”
According to Climate Central’s Risk Finder analysis , the Jacksonville metropolitan area alone has a 64% risk of at least one flood over 4 feet occurring between now and 2050, threatening nearly 8,000 homes, 88 miles of roads, and over 18,000 residents living close to sea level.
If you can see the future, you can shape the future.
Climate Central's FloodVision Ⓡ leverages advanced AI technology to provide street-level, scientifically-based visualizations and data of flooding under different projections. The FloodVision vehicle (nicknamed the FloodRover) is equipped with GPS, lidar, and stereoscopic cameras–think of it as Google Street View, but for flood risk.
Climate Central’s field producer drives the FloodRover along local streets to collect imagery, location, and other sensor data in order to produce flood risk renderings and data at scale. These scientifically grounded and compelling visualizations can then be used as a communications tool to enhance evacuation warnings and develop effective resiliency.
With funding from Florida Sea Grant, NEFRC's resilience team was able to work with Climate Central to collect comprehensive data in a number of locations in the region.
Dan Krueger, FloodVision Project Director, and co-pilot Fara Ilami, Regional Resiliency Manager for Northeast Florida Regional Council
Fara Ilami, Regional Resiliency Manager for NEFRC, worked closely with Climate Central staff to identify important local sites, including critical facilities, evacuation routes, and local landmarks in four communities: Fernandina Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Flagler Beach. In October 2024, Climate Central’s director of FloodVision spent three days driving through these towns, which allowed for data collection of 75.5 miles, producing 1000 visuals and entry floor elevation data points of structures, including government buildings, businesses and residences. Climate Central staff also curated a portfolio of visuals for NEFRC staff of important locations.
Fernandina Beach City Hall - A modeled visualization of the U.S. Interagency 2022 intermediate high sea level rise scenario for 2070 with a major flood event (1% annual chance) projects water reaching a height of 5' 7" above the local high tide line (MHHW) and 5 inches above the road level.
Downtown Fernandina Beach - A modeled visualization of the U.S. Interagency 2022 intermediate high sea level rise scenario for 2040 with a major flood event (1% annual chance) projects water reaching a height of 4 feet above the local high tide line (MHHW) and 5 inches above the road level.
The NEFRC resiliency team expects to prioritize using the visualizations to increase public awareness of flood risk, advance emergency preparedness, and incorporate into resilience planning and adaptation. Next level priorities include using the data and visuals in grant proposals to elicit funding for resilience projects.
This pilot project is in its early days, with the NEFRC staff exploring the data and the visualizations and thinking through the various ways they will utilize these for resilience planning and public communications. The staff at the NEFRC is committed to providing feedback to Climate Central so the organization can continue to refine the FloodVision technology and to best serve future government clients with their communications.
For more information, email floodvision@climatecentral.org.
