NY Sea Grant Floats High-Tech Way To Survey Problem Coastal Flooding

NEW YORK — Your snapshots of flooding along New York's coastline could help to save lives and prevent property damage in the future, thanks to a new high-tech initiative.

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation announced that NY Sea Grant has launched MyCoast NY, an online portal for collecting and analyzing photos of flooding and storm damage.

Currently used in nine states, MyCoast is a system which helps coastal environmental agencies use citizen scientists to track coastal data.

When a photo report is submitted, it will automatically be linked to the closest weather, river/lake/tidal gauge data to help provide context to the photo, and will then be posted to the MyCoast NY website for anyone to view.

Anybody may contribute a photo of local flooding and storm damage. Photo reports can be submitted through an app or on the website, both of which will require registration.

The new system will initially offer two key tools. The "High Water" feature will track any type of flooding across the state, including riverine, coastal and shallow flooding, such as flooding due to stormwater overflows and poor urban drainage. The "Storm Reporter" feature will document storm damage across New York.

A third tool called CoastSnap will be added soon to capture the changing shoreline.

It's hoped that the information gleaned will help property owners, government officials and forecasters to better understand when, where and why damaging floods are likely.

The two-year pilot project, which started July 1, 2022 and will run until June 30, 2024, is funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Sea Grant Office and the New York State Water Resources Institute at Cornell University.

You can participate by visiting the website or downloading the app for iPhone or Android.