Syracuse Sun

Syracuse University offers two professors as experts on flooding and storm surge in relation to Hurricane Milton. Elizabeth Carter, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been working on a project funded by the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a sensor network for measuring urban flooding. She emphasizes the need for upgrades in flood control infrastructure due to increasing hurricane intensity: “We design flood control infrastructure, like storm sewers, reservoirs, floodwalls, and levees, to handle a storm that we think has a 1% chance of happening every year... More intense hurricanes means more catastrophic infrastructure failure.”

Sarah Pralle, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, focuses on environmental politics and policy. She highlights issues with FEMA's flood maps: “Many people assume that they face little risk if they aren’t living in an area included in high-risk zones on FEMA’s flood maps... The maps can quickly become outdated as climate risks evolve.” Pralle also discusses the importance of prevention over reactive measures post-disaster: “Every dollar we put into prevention is going to be a lot more efficiently spent.”

For interviews with either professor, contact Vanessa Marquette at vrmarque@syr.edu.