Using technology to capture tidal information at the street-level has garnered Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News a national award in innovation.
The StormSense Project was recognized with a Public Sector Government Innovation Award. The announcement was made recently.
StormSense is a partnership between the cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, the Virginia Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, according to a news release from the City of Newport News.
The CCRFR is a partnership between the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the College of William & Mary’s Virginia Coastal Policy Center, and Old Dominion University. This marks the 7th award StormSense has received in the last year.
A new network of 28 bridge-mounted Internet of Things (IoT) water level sensors gathers data used to enhance emergency preparedness for flooding resulting from storm surge, rain, and tides.
Newport News has installed 10 new sensors, Norfolk six, and Virginia Beach has installed 12 in the last year, effectively doubling the number of water level monitoring assets in the region, according to the news release.
The project was initially funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology via a Replicable Smart City Technologies grant.
The installation of an additional six sensors over the coming weeks is being funded through an award from Natural Resources Defense Council.
The newly-installed suite of sensors the will be integrated with VIMS’s Tidewatch Network, operated through the CCRFR, to provide 36-hour tidal forecasts at new sensor locations to enhance the reach of their existing tidal prediction network.
This effort, integrated with other modeling technologies, will aid in improving flood predictions throughout the lower Chesapeake Bay.
