This App Shows Storm Surge Damage Before Flooding Begins

Damage assessments of flood-ravaged communities used to rely on post-disaster surveys. That’s changing.

Scientists at one of the nation’s leading climate research consortiums last week released an “augmented reality” smartphone application that simulates how floodwater would inundate specific houses under varying storm surge conditions.

While AR simulations are still an emerging technology, experts say they could help fill a long-standing knowledge gap around flood risk, flood-zone mapping and flood mitigation, experts say.

The “Storm Surge AR” app, developed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., allows users to visualize flood impacts from a bird’s-eye view over a property, explore a home’s condition under different flood conditions and assess the outcomes of flood mitigation strategies like sandbagging.

By using location services, the app allows users to evaluate their own homes, with floodwaters graphically superimposed over the property.