NOTE: For a January 2014 press release announcing funding of this program's 10 projects, click here. These projects were selected via a Call for Research Proposals, which was released in October 2013 (pdf)

Projects funded by the Coastal Storm Awareness Project include:

The major goal of this study is to create educational programs that help adults and adolescents understand the importance of family dynamics in decision making and use it to address factors that may hinder efforts to save lives in time of disaster.

Responses to a survey of over 1,000 Connecticut coastal residents assessing their coastal storm risk perception, experience, understanding and behavior will be correlated to population demographics to support the development of targeted storm-related messages and shared with local emergency managers and responders. 

Building on techniques developed in Mississippi to establish better storm event communication between the National Weather Service and emergency managers with coastal residents, researchers will develop a model based on Twitter, using analysis of geo-referenced messages sent in the tri-state region before, during and after Hurricane Sandy and other extreme weather events.  Researchers will evaluate the effects of specific types of messages on human perceptions and behavior. 

This study will use surveys and interviews with New York- New Jersey coastal residents about their beliefs and behavior regarding high-impact storm events to develop a personalized online decision-making tool. Climate Central’s Surging Seas model will be adapted to include strategies that can be used to improve citizen understanding, preparedness and response to extreme weather.

To assist emergency managers and other communicators deliver the most effective messages possible, this study will survey coastal residents to empirically test the effectiveness of a range of message variables including personalization, storm probability formats and social media messaging.  This information will be the basis for a best practices guide that will serve as an important tool for emergency managers.

This research team will analyze interviews with residents of ethnically diverse Long Beach, NY, many of whom ignored evacuation warnings about Hurricane Sandy, looking at both language barriers and cultural attitudes in affecting understanding and acceptance of risk information. The goal is to create improved guidelines for the specific language used by government officials and weather authorities to relay coastal storm information, risk assessment, and evacuation recommendations.

Researchers will use focus groups and interviews to conduct time-dependent discrete choice experiments, where subjects will self-report the likelihood of evacuation for each of a series of hypothetical storms. The team will explore the use of smartphone apps to collect data about stated evacuation preferences and evaluate the attitudes and response to new sources of information (Twitter and other social media) using integrated sociological theories.

To better understand how coastal residents perceive hurricane-related and storm surge-related risk, this research team will work with tri-state broadcasters, as well as the National Hurricane Center and local National Weather Service offices to develop hurricane forecasts that utilize a new storm surge inundation map. A televised version of the experimental forecast will be tested in focus groups from tri-state coastal communities to help practitioners design the best methods for conveying storm-related risk visually.

This research team will create briefing documents which combine both graphical information and narrative explanations about storm risk that will improve understanding by coastal residents and emergency management officials of the intensity and possible outcomes of an impending coastal storm, increasing the likelihood of people evacuating or taking other appropriate warning response actions.