Katie Graziano, a project scientist of the Community Flood Watch Project speaks to Community Board 10's Municipal Services Committee members on September 9th, 2020.

— Published by the Bronx Times (filed by Jason Cohen)

Bronx, NY, September 12, 2020 - A nonprofit environmental group that aims to curb flooding by having citizens document images to help professionals identify the problem areas, spoke with Community Board 10 earlier this week.

On Sept. 9, Katie Graziano, a project scientist of the Community Flood Watch Project, which is part of the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay - New York Sea Grant, spoke at the CB 10 Municipal Services Committee meeting about the work her organization is doing and hopes to do for CB 10.

“We want to know what ideas you have for your neighborhood,” Graziano said.

The project uses citizen science to report flooding events in the Jamaica Bay watershed. By using photographs and reports collected by community members, researchers can visualize how high tides might look in the future due to sea level rise, as well as improve the science and computer models of flooding.

According to the New York Sea Grant, the national annual frequency of high tide flooding reached five days in 2018, tying a historic record set in 2015 and by 2030, long-term projections show a national frequency of seven to 14 days of high tide flooding.


A car navigates through a flooded location on Shore Road by the Bartow-Pell Mansion in Pelham Bay Park in late April 2019. Credit: James Breen/Bronx Times.

As flooding often occurs on Shore Road, Park Drive, Orchard Beach Road and City Island Road, Graziano noted how important it is for residents to be active and participate in the project. She noted that high tide flooding can happen on a sunny day and impact infrastructure, public health, safety and more.

“The Community Flood Watch Project is an organized attempt to see what we can about that [flooding],” she said.

The members of the committee were impressed with what New York Sea Grant is doing and felt it could benefit the community. Peter Del Debbio and Jerry Landi were among those who voiced support.

Del Debbio, who is the leader of American Legion Post 156 on City Island, said he plans to show this to the legion.

“I thought it was an excellent presentation,” he said.


A motorbike makes its way through pooling water on Shore Road in Pelham Bay park in spring 2019 at a location very close to the Bronx/Westchester, NY county line. Credit: James Breen/Bronx Times.

More Info: New York Sea Grant and SRIatJB

The Science and Resilience Institute @ Jamaica Bay (SRIJB) is a research center focused on enhancing environmental, social, and economic resilience in communities of Jamaica Bay funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the City of New York.

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, University at Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.