Sea-level rise on Virginia’s coast means that an afternoon rainstorm can strand hundreds of drivers on flooded streets. A traffic app now warns drivers of swamped roads in real time, illustrating how one city is trying to adapt to climate change.
The pilot program in Norfolk went live this month after two years of development. FloodMapp CEO Juliette Murphy said the firm’s modeling has proved to be “incredibly accurate” along the streets of this low-lying city on the Chesapeake Bay.
Norfolk, a city of nearly 250,000 people, is an ideal testing ground. It’s more threatened than any other place on the Atlantic Coast by the combination of sinking land and rising seas, said Molly Mitchell, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science professor. “I got about halfway down, and water just starts filling up the car,” he said. “The car clogs. It stops running. Luckily, a colleague who was walking to work starts pushing me off to the side.”
Water pooled around him. He searched Google Earth for higher elevation and quickly drove his Toyota Corolla to a nearby parking lot.Williams, the driver stranded after a nursing home visit, said Norfolk’s flooding can scuttle impromptu, but important plans. “It’s allowing the fossil-fuel-burning economy to try and hold on a little bit longer,” Goldstein said.
RISE gave FloodMapp a $300,000 grant following a contest that challenged companies to tackle the problem of navigating flooded roads.
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