The New Bedford Department of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship (DRES) is collaborating with the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) to increase the city’s smart development, preparedness, and response to coastal flooding and the effects of sea level rise. As an active participant in CZM’s StormSmart Coasts Program, the DRES team engages individuals, neighborhood groups, and other city departments in learning and implementing risk mitigation strategies and storm event monitoring.
By actively monitoring and understanding the rapidly changing coastal environment in the wake of these powerful storms, DRES staff are tasked with going out during and after storms to document conditions and damage to public and private properties as CZM Coastal Storm Team members. These real-time observations are tracked using a reporting app developed by our CZM partners which then assists in the development of reports used by local, state, and federal officials for regional decision making and disaster declarations and response. Every coastal community experiences their own unique storm damage, so having local officials who know each neighborhood and its residents are best equipped to document the impacts from these storm events.
All city departments play a role in storm event preparedness and response, and several are key to administering flood zone regulations designed to protect life and property. We encourage all residents to join or begin a dialogue with the respective departments for achieving their development and risk mitigation goals, whether it is with the Department of Inspectional Services, Emergency Management, Department of Public Infrastructure, or the Department of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship, among others. Only by working together before a storm event can we better reduce damage and more quickly respond during and after an event. We should all be thinking long-term about where, how, and when we as a community develop new structures or employ retrofits to existing homes, businesses, and facilities.
Our coastal city has experienced several unprecedented storm events in the last few years that serve as stark reminders that the time to act in reducing storm damage risk is now. By sharing the extensive resources CZM has available to residents, New Bedford aims to empower our property owners to take action to minimize and mitigate the risks associated with coastal storm damage whether it comes in the form of extreme winds, wave action, rising sea level while also considering and exercising safe and effective escape routing. We believe that educating the public is one of our best investments for long-term resilience and adaptability and the CZM StormSmart Coasts Program has a wide range of tools and literature for both public and private interests to become more storm resilient.
Whether preparing for, or responding to coastal storms, the resiliency of any community relies on the collaboration of everyone. By each of us doing our part, we collectively can ensure the safety of lives and property while remaining adaptive to the dynamic and changing coastal environment.