Annapolis, MD: An Example for How Local Government Can Leverage and Build Mutually Beneficial Collaborations with Academia to Bolster Hazard Mitigation Efforts

Like many coastal communities throughout the mid-Atlantic region, instances of coastal nuisance flooding are accelerating and negatively impacting economic activity and infrastructure in Annapolis, Maryland. The drivers of coastal nuisance flooding, in general, are a superposition of global, regional, and local influences that occur across spatial and temporal scales. On the local level, emergency managers are often tasked with the public safety response to coastal nuisance flooding, and are involved in planning and mitigating against future flooding. Furthermore, emergency managers often don’t have an academic background in meteorology or oceanography, which is increasingly required to understand and act on complex phenomena like coastal flooding and sea level rise. Such expertise can also be a critical factor in securing grant funding to mitigate damage to infrastructure. In this abstract we explore and provide examples for how local emergency management can work collaboratively in partnership with academia to address many issues in a mutually beneficial way. This includes studies led by faculty and researchers at both Stanford University and the U.S. Naval Academy that have provided the technical expertise and data to well-position the City of Annapolis for upcoming flood mitigation projects. These partnerships form an integral part of the multidisciplinary approach necessary to fund, plan, develop, and implement mitigation actions. In addition, this presentation will discuss leveraging local expertise to better refine actionable forecasts for local stakeholders.