By Adam Swift
Revere residents have a new tool to alert them to the potential for flooding in the Beachmont and Riverside neighborhoods.
On the planning and community development page of the city’s website, residents can sign up for alerts from Hohunu flood sensors in those neighborhoods. The alerts send notifications for both rising water levels in the neighborhoods, as well as tide cycle alerts.
At last week’s city council meeting, community development resilience manager Kristen Homeyer and Justine Rooney from the Woods Hole Group provided an update on flood monitoring and resiliency efforts in Revere.
Rooney said the Beachmont neighborhood has been a focus point of resiliency efforts given its flooding history.
“What led to our current work is some evidence of past and ongoing flooding,” said Rooney. “We have residents in low-lying areas in Beachmont and along Mills Avenue in the Riverside neighborhood that have experienced recurring flooding. We also have public input which has identified the need for better flood information, early warning tools, and near-term actions.”
For the past two years, Rooney said the Woods Hole Group and the city have been working in the Beachmont neighborhood to build a plan looking at long-term adaptation options and near-term actions.
“When we look at Mills Avenue and Pearl Avenue, which are two of the major focus areas of this study, we can look over the past 30 years to identify that there has been an increase in flood events in these areas,” said Rooney.
As a result of the study, two of the Hohunu flood sensors were placed in the Riverside neighborhood near Mills Avenue, and two in Beachmont near Pearl Avenue.
“The sensors do not take any photos, they only collect the water level, they look at the distance between it and the ground or it and the water to identify those flooding fluctuations,” said Rooney. “One benefit of this is we can notify the public earlier … but we can also collect data so we can support these residents who are calling their city councilors and saying we need help, we have a problem. This data will support future grant requests by saying here is how often we have seen flooding and here is the severity.”
Rooney said she and Homeyer are developing a public web platform for the city’s website to help connect residents to the data.
“Residents are able to sign up through the platform and there are two different types of alerts,” said Rooney. “There are alerts to let them know that there is likely to be an event because of the tide cycle, but there’s also a flooding sensor that’s going to tell them the distance if there is water touching the ground.”
Rooney said part of the program includes reaching out to residents and other city departments to collect data as well to improve public safety before and during flooding events.
Ward 5 Councilor Angela Guarino-Sawaya asked what other long-term strategies are being considered to help with flooding risks, noting that the Riverside and Mills Avenue area is particularly at risk during astronomical high tides.
“We can continue to prioritize and help residents that will help residents there, so this is just one tool in the toolbox for the Riverside neighborhood,” said Homeyer, adding that the data collected from the sensors will be helpful in applying for grants for future flood mitigation efforts in the neighborhood.