A Flood Awareness Tool is now available on the Camden County website to assist users with making educated decisions about potential flooding. Approximately 35% or 17,000 of Camden County’s residents live within the 100-year floodplain. Three coastal rivers flow through the County, and 50% of the land is classified as wetlands. Camden experiences the effects of sea level rise, storm surge, regular riverine flooding, and king tides.
The Flood Awareness Tool, or Flood Risk App, is part of the Camden County ‘Rise Ready’ coastal resilience toolkit. The online tool is designed to help planning officials, decision makers, and current and future residents make informed decisions to prepare for and reduce the impacts of flooding. This app is not intended to provide real-time flooding risks or evacuation information or substitute for engaging local city or county floodplain management office or officials.
Camden County promotes current and future residents using the Flood Risk App to:
- Know Your Risk: Understand general flood risk by bringing together local infrastructure and land use data with current and future flood risk data, including sea level rise projections;
- Visualize Risk: Comprehensive flood risk maps help bring awareness and promote smart land use planning, property purchasing, or renovation decisions; and
- Reduce Risk: Provides actionable steps to reduce flood risk, prepare for extreme weather events, and local resources that can help.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to provide specific information to local residents,” said CRS, E&S Coordinator Scott Brazell. “Camden County residents and stakeholders have more data to help them make educated decisions about their potential flood hazards.”
Interested users can visit the Camden County website at www.camdencountyga.gov/FloodTool to select the desktop or mobile versions of the app as well as learn more about the tool and how to use it. Videos and a factsheet are available to provide more details about the functionality of the tools.
The Flood Awareness Tool was created through a Coastal Incentive Grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the United States Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and via a partnership between the Camden County Community Rating System, Erosion & Sedimentation Coordinator, the City of St. Marys Community Development Department, the Coastal Regional Commission, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Coastal Resources Division, the University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, and The Nature Conservancy.