How Will a Vulnerability Study Help Protect Our Coast?

Published on July 23, 2024

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By Michelle Monteclaro
Stormwater Program Coordinator

What is a Vulnerability Assessment? 

A vulnerability assessment takes a look at existing infrastructure to see what effects certain hazards may pose to the people, property, environment, and economy of a community. In Dunedin’s vulnerability assessment, we will be focusing on flooding Impacts from storm surge, tidal flooding, rainfall, and sea level rise. The questions we’re asking are: 

 1) How likely is flooding and how severe will that flooding be? 

 2) What is going to happen to our community as a result of that flooding? 

Being a coastal community, Dunedin is particularly susceptible to sea level rise.  A higher sea level not only effects the coast, but it also raises the groundwater level. An increase in ground water levels leads to a decrease in absorption capacity of the ground and increases runoff and flooding. 

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Figure 1: Roadmap for creating an Adaptation Plan. Source: Florida Adaptation Planning Guidebook, 2018.

 

Vulnerability Assessment Process 

How do we work together as a city to successfully perform a Vulnerability Assessment? 

Assemble and Conduct Steering Committee to 

  • Identify goals 

  • Review draft materials 

  • Assist in identifying relevant and vulnerable assets and 

  • Review project findings and recommendations 

Public Outreach Workshop 

  • Conduct two public outreach meetings allows the public to provide input in early stages of data collection on; 

  • August 22, 2024 will be the first public workshop. It will be focused on the project’s methodologies and provide a general overview 

  • The second workshop will be held in early Spring of 2025 and will focus on identifying critical assets that are important to their community 

Interdepartmental Collaboration 

  • Request that departments provide the most important and vulnerable assets in the city for the asset inventory 

2.PNG Exposure Analysis 

  • Identifies the amount of water caused by: 

  • Sea level rise 

  • Storm surges 

  • Rainfall 

  • Tidal flooding 

  • Any other flooding scenario in vulnerable areas 

Sensitivity Analysis 

  • Using the data collected from the exposure analysis; 

  • Measure the impact of flooding on vulnerable assets 

  • A risk level will be assigned to each asset based on the impact of flood severity 

Critical Focus Areas 

  • Using the results of the second public workshop and input from the steering committee; 

  • Identify critical focus areas 

  • Based on the exposure analysis and sensitivity analysis; 

  • Communities may assign focus areas to assets or locations that are most vulnerable and will have an adaptation plan developed 

What is an Adaptation Plan? 

An adaptation plan is the actionable response(s) to the results of a vulnerability assessment. Once we empirically understand Dunedin’s vulnerabilities we can become proactive in implementing changes to protect our coastline from: 

  • Sea level rise 

  • Storm surges 

  • Tidal flooding 

  • Rainfall flooding 

Adaptation Plan Process 

Assess Adaptive Capacities 

  • Evaluate the community’s capacity to address the impacts of sea level rise 

Prioritize Adaptation Needs 

  • Determine the assets that should be priority to implement adaptation plans 

     Identify and implement Adaptation Strategies 

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Figure 2: Types of Adaptation Strategies. Source: Florida Adaptation Planning Guidebook, 2018 

 

Important Announcements Regarding the Vulnerability Assessment 

Public Workshop- Protecting Our Coast Facing Flood Risks Together 

We will be holding our first public meeting August 22nd at 6 p.m. in the City Commission Chambers. This meeting will discuss the methodologies of the project and provide an overview giving the public a chance to share their input and ask questions about the project. 

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