Researchers at the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) hosted a series of community workshops in Oxford and Hoopers Island, Maryland, to better understand how residents experience and respond to coastal flooding. By talking with residents, researchers are gathering information about how people view flood risks, how they currently prepare for and cope with flooding, and their thoughts on future resilience options.
These workshops aim to gather local knowledge to help ensure that nature-based flood mitigation strategies and long-term flood planning reflect local needs, values, and expectations. Both Oxford and Hoopers Island have implemented a variety of mitigation strategies such as ditches to alleviate road flooding and living shorelines to absorb wave energy. Ultimately, incorporating residents’ experiences and perspectives can help communities and decision-makers identify resilience approaches for recurring hazards that are both effective and supported by the people who live there.
These workshops build on the local planning and flood protection work already underway in both communities. Residents have played an important role in identifying and responding to local flooding concerns. Rather than serving as an initial point of contact, these workshops build upon this established local knowledge and ongoing resilience efforts. Using the same social science approach in both communities allows researchers to better understand residents’ experience with flooding, how they perceive risk, the actions they take to adapt, who they see as responsible for addressing flooding, and the factors that may shape future decisions about flood mitigation or relocation.
This project supports NOAA’s work under the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) and Executive Order 14239 to minimize coastal hazards, support local preparedness, and inform decision-making.