Overview

The Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper helps communities understand their risks and vulnerability to coastal flooding. The mapper was first developed following Hurricane Sandy to provide a tool to show areas susceptible to coastal flooding, storm surge, and inundation, and to inform communities and local authorities about the risks their communities face.

This online visualization tool supports communities that are assessing their coastal hazard risks and vulnerabilities. The tool creates a collection of user-defined maps that show the people, places, and natural resources exposed to coastal flooding. The maps can be saved, downloaded, or shared to communicate flood exposure and potential impacts. In addition, the tool provides guidance for using these maps to engage community members and stakeholders. The current geography includes the East Coast, West Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean.

Features:

• Visualize people, places, and natural resources exposed to coastal flood hazards
• Share online maps to communicate with and engage stakeholders

Example in use: The Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper is based on the Roadmap for Adapting to Coastal Risk Approach for assessing coastal hazard risks and vulnerabilities. This approach has been applied in a variety of communities. Miami-Dade County in Florida is vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise, flooding, and other hazards on water availability, stormwater management, and infrastructure. The county developed a sustainability plan called GreenPrint to guide the integration of climate change into existing plans. Part of this effort included developing maps to visualize coastal hazards, climate-related vulnerabilities, and assets.