Planning for extreme precipitation in a changing climate: Case studies in the Mid-Atlantic and Urban Northeast

A still from the short film about extreme precipitation. Credit: Mangrove Media

Flooding is a major natural disaster threatening communities around the country. The Mid-Atlantic has witnessed numerous precipitation-induced events in the recent past and these events will probably worsen moving forward, due to climate change. Across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States, stormwater planners and managers face the growing challenge of designing and managing stormwater systems under a changing climate. In this monograph, the research team has used innovative tools, models, and collaborative research that incorporates climate projections into stormwater infrastructure design, plans and operations. The research team has written a white paper and created a short film to present two case studies that can serve as models for how local researchers and practitioners jointly work on developing and implementing adaptation solutions for climate change. The short film will describe two studies led by Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN) in the Philadelphia region that utilize Hydrologic and Hydraulic (H&H) models, local stakeholder input, and climate projections to identify adaptation scenarios that can reduce compound flood risks now and in the future