A new case study from the Department of Homeland Security and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services finds that the AWARE Flood system performed exceptionally well in their test of low-cost flood risk tools.
Mecklenburg County is the most populous county in North Carolina and home to the city of Charlotte, one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States. It is also at a high risk of severe flooding events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has mapped an estimated 2,800 structures in floodplain areas and nearly 370 miles of streams across the county. These flooding risks are exacerbated by the torrential rainfall that occurs in every hurricane season. In September 2018, Hurricane Florence dropped nearly 36 inches of precipitation in parts of the state, making it the rainiest hurricane in North Carolina history.
To address this high risk of flooding, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services (CMSWS) partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) to fund the development of low-cost, autonomous flood sensors. As part of the DHS S&T Flood Apex Program, this project endeavored to reduce fatalities, lessen property losses, and support community resiliency from potential flooding events with predictive analytics tools.
As part of this initiative, DHS S&T requested innovative solutions through a competitive solicitation. They contracted Intellisense Systems and two other vendors to develop a low-cost flood risk assessment tool that would then be put into commercial production. These flood risk assessment tools were deployed in areas with unmonitored flood risk, as well as stream-road crossings, areas of critical infrastructure, and capital improvement sites.
These water level assessment tools faced a number of a challenges in the urban environment. Fallen trees, vandals, and insect infestation are just some of the hazards that these tools faced. They also needed to be easy to install, easy to operate, and work autonomously through a variety of conditions, including severe weather events like Hurricane Florence. Ultimately, the AWARE Flood system from Intellisense was chosen after a successful alpha test for its accuracy, autonomous operations, durability, and ease of installation.
This case study examines two years’ worth of data from Intellisense’s 26 alpha units and 91 beta units. See all of the results by downloading the full case study by completing the form on the right.
