Page 12 - aruba-today-20220201

A12 technology
Tuesday 1 February 2022
Safety app for drivers debuts in flood-

plagued Virginia city

"It's kind of like a living
thing," Spencer said. "The
feedback loop can help
make these models even
better."
Norfolk, a city of nearly
250,000 people, is an ideal
testing ground. It's more
threatened than any oth-
er place on the Atlantic
Coast by the combination
of sinking land and rising
seas, said Molly Mitchell, a
Virginia Institute of Marine
This image provided by Kyle Spencer, acting chief resilience Science professor.
officer for the city of Norfolk, shows a flooded intersection along
with a screenshot of the traffic app Waze depiction of the flood Water levels have risen by
area in Norfolk, Va. about 1.5 feet (.5 meters)
Associated Press since 1928. They're pro-
jected to rise by close to
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The cities around the world are another 1.5 feet by 2050 —
sun was shining when Kim trying to adapt to climate or more depending on the
Williams hopped in her change. And it's an exam- Earth's rising temperatures.
Honda Odyssey to visit a ple of how new technology The Chesapeake Bay and
friend at a nursing home. will likely play an increasing the Elizabeth River form a
But an unexpected down- role. crescent of water around
pour on the drive back left The pilot program in Norfolk three sides of the city, while
her trapped in a maze of went live this month after other tributaries flow into its
flooded streets. two years of development. interior. During high tides,
Williams made turn after FloodMapp CEO Juliette rains can overwhelm sew-
turn to avoid rising waters Murphy said the firm's mod- ers and have nowhere to
in a century-old neighbor- eling has proved to be "in- go but low-lying streets.
hood in Norfolk before credibly accurate" along Flooding affects truck traffic
shutting off her minivan. the streets of this low-lying heading to and from port
"I knew that I would kill the city on the Chesapeake terminals. And it impedes
car if I kept driving," Wil- Bay. the ability of U.S. Navy sail-
liams said of the storm from FloodMapp feeds data ors to quickly reach the
a few years ago. "I called from rain forecasts, tide world's largest naval base,
the tow company and they gauges and Norfolk's ter- where piers are lined with
said, 'We'll get to it when rain into an algorithm. Driv- aircraft carriers.
we can. We've got a very ers are warned on Waze Marc Rabinowitz, a now-
long list.'" when at least 6 inches (15 retired psychoanalyst, lost
The increasing threat of centimeters) of water has his Saab in a nor'easter sev-
sea-level rise on Virginia's likely pooled on a specific eral years ago. Floodwa-
coast means that an after- roadway. New flood infor- ters blocked his commute
noon rainstorm can strand mation is updated every 15 to work. He turned down a
drivers for hours, delay par- minutes. Kyle Spencer, who one-way street the wrong
ents from picking up chil- is helping Norfolk adapt to way because it looked
dren and damage cars be- sea-level rise as its acting clear.
yond repair – all without a chief resilience officer, said "I got about halfway down,
tropical storm on the radar. a single storm can strand and water just starts filling
The city of Norfolk is trying to hundreds of vehicles. The up the car," he said. "The
do something about that: plan is for Waze to eventu- car clogs. It stops running.
Officials have partnered ally reroute drivers when a Luckily, a colleague who
with the tech firm Flood- road floods with 12 inches was walking to work starts
Mapp and the Waze traf- (30 centimeters) of water. pushing me off to the side."
fic app to warn residents of The app's accuracy will Drivers also face unpredict-
flooded roadways in real improve, Spencer said, be- able "rain bombs," which
time. The project is being cause drivers will validate can dump an inch of water
launched at a time when Waze's warnings. in 30 minutes on an isolated
area. Marc Vigeant, a proj-
ect manager for a marine
construction company,
was caught in one in 2020
when he left work.
Water pooled around him.
He searched Google Earth
for higher elevation and
quickly drove his Toyota
Corolla to a nearby park-
ing lot.q