Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressmen Jim Langevin and David Cicilline have announced $891,243 in federal funding for a partnership between Rhode Island and four other New England states to study the effects of coastal storms and develop tools and solutions to help communities respond to these events.
The partnership will include researchers from the University of Rhode Island (URI) and the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC).
The project will be conducted by state coastal management and environmental agencies and university researchers from the Northeast Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS).
It will document and project the effects of severe storms on coastal communities, including modeling how floods would inundate coastal areas. It will also look at how coastal infrastructure employing natural, sustainable building techniques and materials can help protect people in Rhode Island and along the New England coastline from ocean and coastal hazards.
The funding is provided through a second phase of grants awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ocean Service’s Regional Coastal Resilience (RCR) Grant programs. In total, for fiscal years 2015 and 2016, NOAA awarded $9 million to 12 projects representing all regions of the country.