Community Resilience: Documentary on NOAA Sea Grant Coastal Storm Awareness Program

A new NOAA Sea Grant Documentary Short on Coastal Storm Awareness educates Emergency Managers, empowers Coastal Communities. The video also points to resources from NOAA's National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, NYC Office of Emergency Management and more.

Read the full story on New York Sea Grant's website

In late October 2012, “Superstorm” Sandy traveled up the Atlantic coast and came ashore in the tri-state region. In her wake, she left 117 people dead, billions of dollars in property and business losses, and thousands of lives shattered. While evacuation orders were in place, there was still significant loss of life in flooded homes. Why didn’t or couldn’t people leave for safe shelter? 

Answering this question is at the heart of the $1.8M National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-funded Coastal Storm Awareness Program (CSAP), a series of social science studies that Sea Grant programs in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut recently wrapped up and reflect on in a new 23-minute documentary short and accompanying four-and-a-half minute trailer.

The goal of this suite of 10 research projects - which were competitively funded at institutions from Yale University to Mississippi State University via Sandy Supplemental funds appropriated by Congress under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 - was to better understand how people react to storm warnings and make the decision to stay or to go. 

Contacts:

Barbara A. Branca, New York Sea Grant, Communications Manager, E: Barbara.Branca@stonybrook.edu, P: 631-632-6956

Paul C. Focazio, New York Sea Grant, Web Content Manager, E: paul.focazio@stonybrook.edu, P: 631-632-6910

Margaret (Peg) Van Patten, Communications Director, Connecticut Sea Grant, E: peg.vanpatten@uconn.edu, P: 860-405-9141 

Nancy Balcom, Associate Director, Connecticut Sea Grant, E: nancy.balcom@uconn.edu 

Rebecca Nagy, Communications Specialist, New Jersey Sea Grant, E: rnagy@njseagrant.org, P: 732-872-1300 x18