ICARE Update:

City on Track with Flood Assessment 

Last year ICARE joined a cadre of city council members and local experts, calling for Jacksonville to take meaningful steps to better understand flooding and how it impacts the people who live here. 

Now, the city has completed the first step in a flood vulnerability assessment for Duval County. The assessment will show us the land, assets and people who are most at risk for flooding as sea level rises. And it makes Jacksonville eligible to compete for $100 million in state funds annually for resilience projects.

 “The full assessment is not done, but we hit our data target for September,” Jacksonville’s Chief Resilience Officer Anne Coglianese said. The full report will come out in summer 2023. But finishing the data analysis means Jacksonville qualifies for state funding this year. 

All types of flooding are getting worse in Florida. Examples aren’t hard to find in Jacksonville. 

Only 4-6 inches of rain fell in Jacksonville during Hurricane Nicole, but Nicole’s storm surge raised tides by 3-5 feet. Floodwaters reached far inland along the tidally impacted St. Johns River, into the wealthy neighborhoods of Riverside and San Marco and a modest neighborhood on Ken Knight Blvd. Flooding is a OneJax problem.

The Army Corps of Engineers predicts sea level will rise locally by 2 feet in 50 years. That will make flooding even worse. 

Your support of ICARE helped bring us this far. Let’s take ICARE’s Flooding issue to the finish line! Mark your calendar now to attend ICARE’s Nehemiah Assembly – April 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Is justice part of your spiritual journey? Join BBUUC’s ICARE Justice Ministry. Contact us at icare@bbuuc.org to learn more.