Students and researchers gathered in Fitts-Woolard Hall’s Incubator Lab this week to build a new round of sensors for the Sunny Day Flooding Project, with a goal of measuring, modeling and understanding the impacts of chronic shallow flooding in coastal North Carolina communities.

The sensors measure the capacity of storm drains and the extent of flooding along roadways. Real-time water level data from the sensors are displayed online at go.unc.edu/sunny. The data will validate a coupled hydrodynamic and hydrologic model of flooding in the town, which will then be used to simulate future flood risk and potential adaptation strategies. Email alerts are also triggered when water levels approach the roadway, which allows for proactive implementation of flood warning measures by town staff.

Learn more about the project, led by CCEE Assistant Professor Katherine Anarde and Miyuki Hino, an assistant professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, here.