Communities Becoming Resilient Together
The Hudson River Flood Resilience Network is a group of riverfront communities working together to address their current and future flood risks
People along the Hudson River have seen more flooding and extreme storms over the past decade than any other time in recent memory.
According to New York State official projections, the mid-Hudson region could experience as much as six feet of sea-level rise by 2100, creating high-tide flooding and permanent inundation of waterfront locations.
The Flood Resilience Network is a pathway to tackling this looming challenge by connecting riverfront communities to flood resilience resources and to peers in other communities.
The effort started in 2015 as a collaboration between the riverfront communities of Kingston, Piermont, and Catskill after these municipalities completed waterfront vulnerability assessments. Since then, additional riverfront communities have joined the network. The Flood Resilience Network is supported by the Hudson River Estuary Program with partners Scenic Hudson and the Consensus Building Institute.
The Flood Resilience Network connects waterfront communities with experts, programs and resources:
- Work with skilled staff from the NYS DEC Hudson River Estuary Program, Scenic Hudson, the Consensus Building Institute and many others
- Get expert help in completing Climate Smart Community adaptation actions from Cornell Cooperative Extension
- Obtain mapping support for developing your waterfront resilience vision and locating sites for taking action
- Access shared content, such as help with a website or writing a flood preparedness guide
- Receive informational materials such as Guide to Organizations Addressing Flood Resilience in the Hudson Valley and Guide to Tools, Programs for Flood Resilience and Sea-level Rise Mapper Comparison Table
- Learn about funding opportunities
What have Flood Resilience Network communities accomplished?
- In just a few short years, participating communities have received more than $7 million in grants for resilience projects
- Upgraded critical infrastructure such as wastewater treatment plants and waterfront access roads
- Produced and distributed flood preparedness guides for residents and businesses
- Operated a neighbor-to-neighbor emergency response network
- Established or updated a Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan
- Become a certified Climate Smart Community
- Hosted the Climate-adaptive Design studio, where Cornell University students create flood resilient waterfront designs
The Flood Resilience Network supports members by providing peer-to-peer learning opportunities on topics such as:
- Assessing your flood risk
- Successful fundraising
- Emergency management planning
- Assessing and adapting critical infrastructure
- Effective community engagement
- NYS Climate Smart Communities program
- Incorporating resilience into municipal plans and regulations
Community Highlight
The Village of Piermont’s Neighbor 2 Neighbor program
The Neighbor 2 Neighbor (N2N) program was established by the Piermont Waterfront Resiliency Commission to provide support for vulnerable community members during a flood. Residents can register if they feel they need help or if they’d like to volunteer to check on neighbors during an emergency.
A community network like N2N can help strengthen communities during a flood or even a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more, read this article about Piermont’s N2N.
To learn more about the origins of the Flood Resilience Network, read our published paper Working Together to Build Climate Resilience in Hudson Riverfront Communities, from the Springer Handbook of Climate Change Resilience.