Flooding in Sodus Bay in 2017. Credit: Coastal Flooding Survey Project, Cornell University and New York Sea Grant.

Contacts: 

Webinar presenter: Scott Steinschneider, Ph.D., Cornell University, P: 607-255-2155

Katherine Bunting-Howarth, NYSG Associate Director, E: keb264@cornell.edu,  P: 607-255-2832

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG Great Lakes Publicist, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315.465.7578

Ithaca, NY, August 21, 2020 - On Thursday, August 20th (12-1 pm ET) New York Sea Grant (NYSG) offered a free one-hour webinar with Scott Steinschneider, Ph.D., of the Cornell University Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, detailing a parcel-level flood forecast risk management tool he has developed for use by communities along Lake Ontario and its embayments. The webinar was presented via Zoom: www.nyseagrant.org/researchseminars and Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/nyseagrant.

Lake Ontario has experienced two record-setting floods over the course of three years: 2017-2019. With funding from NYSG, Steinschneider has developed an inundation prediction model for rapid flood forecasting at weekly to monthly timescales. 

The model was developed with input from stakeholders that included reports and photos of the 2017 Lake Ontario flood damage to manmade structures and natural features; shoreline, bluff and dune erosion; septic and well impact; and power outages.

"The goal of this prediction model is to provide community planners and property owners with a parcel-level assessment of future flood risk to enhance local short-term preparedness planning and to help inform short-term emergency response," Steinschneider said.

"Dr. Steinschneider's flood risk prediction model is part of New York Sea Grant's ongoing resiliency-building effort to create science-based resources to help Great Lakes shoreline stakeholders better prepare and respond to extreme weather, high water, and intense water wave action from storm events," said New York Sea Grant Associate Director Katherine Bunting-Howarth, Ph.D., J.D., assistant director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ithaca, N.Y.

Other NYSG flood risk management and coastal resiliency-building resources for Lake Ontario shoreline stakeholders are available. The resources include: 

• New York's Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Index, a community-level self-assessment tool for municipal leaders, local planners, engineers, flood plain managers and others to guide resiliency planning to manage coastal hazards and weather events, authored by New York Sea Grant Coastal Community Development Specialist Mary Austerman; 
  
  
• an interactive, parcel-level inundation mapping tool;
  
  
• an online story map with aerial photos of the 2017 flooding impact along Lake Ontario from Braddock Bay west of Rochester to Stony Creek near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River;
  
  
• a photo gallery with images from 32 communities across the seven-county Lake Ontario region; and
  
  
• a summary of the American Planning Association award-winning post-flood recovery building workshop, organized by New York Sea Grant and the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council, for the Village of Sodus Point. 

For more on Lake Ontario high water impact surveys, see www.nyseagrant.org/waterlevel2017, which is part of NYSG's "Great Lakes Coastal Communities" resource site, www.nyseagrant.org/ccd. 


NYSG’s inundation mapping tools help communities and coastal property owners enhance flooding preparedness. 

The August 20th "A Probabilistic, Parcel-Level Inundation Prediction Tool to Support Community Preparedness to Flooding along Lake Ontario" webinar, which can be streamed below, was part of New York Sea Grant's Summer 2020 Virtual Seminar Series. Recordings and additional info on previous and forthcoming seminars can be found at www.nyseagrant.org/researchseminars.



More Info: New York Sea Grant

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.