Coastal flooding threatens small communities along the shore, from routine high-tide flooding to major storms and sea level rise, affecting homes, infrastructure, and daily life. This project uses community workshops in Oxford and Hoopers Island, Maryland, to understand how residents experience flooding, interpret risk, and consider potential solutions. Information collected during the workshops will improve flood planning to better align with community priorities.
Why We Care
Coastal communities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore are experiencing more frequent flooding, from high-tide events to major storms and long-term sea level rise. These conditions are affecting homes, infrastructure, local economies, and day-to-day life. Understanding how residents perceive and respond to flooding is essential for developing practical, locally supported solutions that reduce impacts and improve long-term resilience.
What We Are Doing
NCCOS is convening a series of community workshops in Oxford (Talbot County) and Hoopers Island (Dorchester County). The goal is to hear directly from residents about how they experience flooding, how they think about risk, and what responses they view as realistic and acceptable. Workshops will document lived experience, local knowledge of flood-prone areas, existing coping strategies, and community priorities for future action.
By comparing two communities with different levels of risk and capacity, this work will show how local context shapes preparedness, response, and adaptation. Differences in resources, infrastructure, and exposure to recurring flooding help explain why some adaptation strategies are more feasible than others and where barriers or enabling conditions exist, particularly for nature-based approaches.
Findings will directly support local and state decision-making on coastal flooding and resilience by clarifying what influences community acceptance and feasibility of different solutions. This effort also supports ongoing coastal resilience work in Oxford in addition to building new relationships, including collaboration with Friends of the Honga, Hoopersville, and Fishing Creek. Results will help practitioners design strategies that better reflect lived experience and are more likely to be sustained over time.