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WORKSHOP
MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION RESEARCH IN VIRGINIA
August 11-13, 2015
Hilton Garden Inn, Suffolk, VA
ABSTRACT
NOAA Port Tomorrow — Resilience of Mid-Atlantic Ports and Surrounding Communities
Henry Mayer, Environmental Analysis & Communications Group, Rutgers University
Commercial waterfront users and surrounding Hampton Roads communities share many of the same risks to storms, floods, sea level rise and other natural hazards. The degree of impacts may vary, but often they affect commonly used transportation networks and utilities, business and personal assets, jobs and the local and regional economy. Port and community partnering to leverage investments in infrastructure upgrades and hazard mitigation programs across adjoining coastal areas is a win-win for all. It will reduce redundancy and increase collaboration among government and private planners, and result in a greater resilience to natural hazards. The research team believes that NOAA’s Port Tomorrow web-based platform can be utilized to house geospatial and other relevant data needed for decision makers to visualize where and how commercial waterfront facilities and surrounding communities may be impacted by current and projected flooding, storm surge, sea level rise, and other natural hazards; to identify critical infrastructure, dependent businesses, transportation networks, hazardous materials, and other important assets at risk in the near and longer term; and facilitate the development of coordinated emergency management plans for short term response and collaborative adaptation, mitigation and infrastructure investment programs to reduce impacts over the longer term. Through a pilot study in the Hampton Roads area, we propose to investigate if and how Port Tomorrow might be expanded to serve as a tool for multi-stakeholder resilience planning for ports and surrounding.