The Town of Southampton Department of Public Safety and Emergency Management has started to use the MyCoast app to document and track flooding and storm damage in the town, and town residents can download the app to contribute.
MyCoast is a platform for sharing and viewing photos of flooding, storm damage, and shoreline change. The tool automatically links photos to the closest weather station data, tidal gauges for the coast, and river or lake gauges for inland locations.
“Being able to link photos to tide and river gauge data allows us to get a visual of what these future predictions will look like, on the ground,” said Hudson Estuary Specialist Jessica Kuonen, from New York Sea Grant, which is the cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York that is championing the MyCoast program.
“This app will allow us to benefit from a degree of crowdsourcing to obtain flooding, coastal erosion and storm damage information throughout the town,” said Southampton Town Emergency Manager Ryan Murphy. “In the Emergency Operations Center we will be able to view pictures of conditions in the field as soon as they are submitted via MyCoast NY. These images are also shared with the National Weather Service staff who can utilize them to verify forecasts and improve warning operations.”
Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman added: “We have pushed the MyCoast app information out to our town employees and I know many of our Public Safety and Emergency Management staff members are already users on the app. Knowledge is power and helps to drive better, and more informed decisions during and after weather emergencies. We encourage our residents to submit photos through the MyCoast NY app.”
Murphy noted that thanks to strong documentation of pre- and post-storm conditions related to the December 23, 2022, winter storm, the town was recently approved to submit for 75 percent federal reimbursement on costs associated with addressing significant beach erosion. “Now we will be able to document these conditions even better with the public’s help,” he said.
Residents can learn more at MyCoast.org/NY. In order to start sharing photos residents just need to download the MyCoast.org app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, register, snap a photo and submit the photo report.
Staff Writer on Apr 26, 2023