MAY 29, 2015--OR&R’s Simeon Hahn was invited to attend a community session and walking tour with Representative John Carney of Delaware regarding climate resilience efforts in the Southbridge neighborhood of Wilmington on May 27, 2015.

NOAA previously conducted a briefing of NOAA’s Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program (DARRP) and Urban Waters Federal Partnership activities in Delaware for Representative Carney on October 26, 2014. That briefing focused on climate resilience, environmental, economic, and social issues in the urban coastal City of Wilmington.

Representative Carney's office organized several events statewide to discuss flooding, extreme weather, and the potential risks of climate change on our coastal areas. Based on the NOAA briefing, Carney specifically wanted to focus on climate change challenges in urban areas. Carney’s office is concerned that “we often hear about flooding in areas like the beaches and Prime Hook (along Delaware Bay), but that the issue is prevalent in more urban areas in New Castle County as well, and Southbridge is a perfect example." In these highly populated, high intensity infrastructure areas where natural resources are in dire need of restoration, the full extent of the economic and social impacts of climate change (in addition to environmental impacts) routinely are not adequately assessed but are thought to be extremely significant.

In Southbridge, Carney took a walking tour of streets, businesses and homes repeatedly flooded by the increase of high intensity storms, storm-driven surges from the tidal Christina River, and other factors such as the increase in impermeable land and aging infrastructure. This results in businesses being closed, residences flooded, and sewage from aging drains and combined storm and sewer pipes upwelling out of pipes.

NOAA has been engaged in Southbridge and the South Wilmington Wetland Project since 2008, providing funding for a regional Brownfield assessment and Special Area Management Plan for South Wilmington. OR&R is continuing to provide technical support in contaminant investigations, ecological risk assessments, and wetland restoration design through its support to the Urban Waters Federal Partnership.

For further information, contact Simeon.Hahn@noaa.gov.

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