\nWhen Tropical Storm Isaias swept the region in 2020, millions of dollars in damages were reported in some of Philadelphia\u2019s lowest-lying neighborhoods. Now, those same residents have been equipped with a tool to prepare for upcoming storms.\n<\/p>\n
\nOfficials with the city\u2019s Office of Emergency Management activated gauges and cameras around flood-prone neighborhoods like Eastwick, Manayunk and areas of Northeast Philadelphia on Saturday as part of a pilot program to bolster the areas\u2019 climate resilience. Residents can access the data and receive notifications about significant changes online and on mobile devices.\n<\/p>\n
MORE:\u00a0New York Bagel Bakery in Overbrook Park damaged by another gas explosion<\/a><\/p>\n \nThe website, available at\u00a0flood-monitoring.phila.gov<\/a>, regularly updates measurements of water temperature, water levels and barometric pressure, which is the weight of air molecules above the Earth\u2019s surface.\n<\/p>\n Real-time monitoring is available at nine locations across the city through a mix of gauges and live traffic cameras. Users can either choose a location on the website\u2019s map or type in an address to find the most up-to-date information for that area.\u00a0Guides on flood insurance, preparing for potential flood conditions and dealing with the aftermath of a storm are also available on the site.<\/p>\n \nGauges are currently operational in the following areas:<\/p>\n \u2022 Darby Creek \nCameras have been installed at the following intersections:<\/p>\n \u2022 80th and Caesar The project was funded through a $335,000 grant awarded by Philadelphia’s\u00a0Office of the Chief Administrative Officer that was also used to expand the number of languages ReadyPhiladelphia safety alerts are available in, according to Jeffrey Kolakowski, communications director with the Office of Emergency Management.\u00a0<\/p>\n \nThe database is also part of a larger Eastwick Flood Resilience Strategy<\/a>, which aims to build a long-term mitigation plan as climate change models project the area to get wetter and hotter.\n<\/p>\n \nThe 82-page plan, published in March, is the result of a two-year collaborative process between the city and residents of the neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia near the Cobbs Creek and Darby Creek watersheds.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cListening to residents, addressing their concerns and incorporating their ideas into potential solutions is critical to creating safer and stronger communities,\u201d Dominick Mireles, deputy managing director for community safety, said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n \nRecommendations include installing a wetland park to control excessive runoff after a storm, relocating residents in some of the more vulnerable areas and elevating the busy \u201cPlanet Streets\u201d to provide residents with a safe evacuation route.\n<\/p>\n \nFollowing back-to-back tropical storms in 2020 and 2021 that inundated the streets with several feet of water<\/a> and damaged hundreds of homes, officials launched the Eastwick Near-Term Flood Barrier Project<\/a> which built temporary flood barriers using a $1.38 million federal grant. A 15-foot levee around Cobbs Creek has been under construction by the U.S. Army Corps for around two years.\n<\/p>\n \nDespite being located on a federally designated floodplain, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not list the neighborhood as a Community Disaster Resilience Zone until 2023, which opens up more opportunities for federal funding grants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Tropical Storm Isaias swept the region in 2020, millions of dollars in damages were reported in some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[22270,57808,1131,9059,2327,75139,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-189426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-data","tag-eastwick","tag-environment","tag-flood","tag-northeast-philadelphia","tag-office-of-emergency-management","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022 Cobbs Creek
\u2022 Pennypack Creek
\u2022 Manayunk Canal
\u2022 Heinz Wildlife Refuge
\u2022 Saturn Place
\u2022 Venice Island<\/p>\n
\u2022 78th and Buist
\u2022 77th and Elmwood
\u2022 Cobbs Creek and Springfield
\u2022 Kelly Drive and Midvale Avenue
\u2022 Bayton Street and Church Lane
\u2022 Godfrey Avenue and Beechwood Street<\/p>\n