City Island residents hope flood sensors help city provide better flooding safety
City Island has four so far, and groups like City Island Rising are hoping for more because more data could lead to more change.
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The City Island community is hoping sensors installed on the island will help the city provide resources to end future flooding catastrophes.
Floodnet is the initiative implemented by CUNY, NYU, and the City to place 500 flood sensors throughout the city. There are 80 already installed across all boroughs. The sensors measure the distance between it and the ground, and when the distance decreases it likely means there's flooding.
"They really just operate like a bat, so they emit high frequency, ultrasonic, chirps every minute or so and they listen to the echo, they're pointing down to the ground so they're constantly measuring the distance to the ground," said Ricardo Toledo-Crow, associate research professor at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center.
City Island has four so far, and groups like City Island Rising are hoping for more because more data could lead to more change.
"Those who collect the most data and can prove their point should get some of that climate funding," said City Island Rising board member John Doyle.
Floodnet is working with city island rising and the parks department to possibly install more sensors on the island access roads.
