URI programs secure state funding for CHAMP, StormTools, and MyCoast, to continue providing critical services for Rhode Island
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| In the past, hurricanes hit the Rhode Island coastline without warning; now RI-CHAMP provides early-warning alerts to state emergency managers on coastal flooding and wind impacts caused by hurricanes and nor’easters, giving coastal communities critical time to prepare. (Coastal Resources Center) |
Rhode Island legislators have endorsed a powerful complement of tools developed and housed at the University of Rhode Island so they can continue to benefit the state coastline and residents, approving $200,000 in the 2026 fiscal year budget. Legislators and researchers say that support to keep URI’s critical CHAMP, STORMTOOLS, and MyCoast programs going demonstrates that URI, and Rhode Island, will continue to lead in coastal safety analysis, early warnings, and resilience.
Bringing together URI’s Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island Sea Grant, Graduate School of Oceanography, Environmental Data Center, and the departments of Marine Affairs and Ocean Engineering, a successful team drawing on the best of URI, the tools were developed and launched to respond to the needs of Rhode Island’s emergency managers, partner communities, state regulatory agencies, and military, to plan for and respond to storms and associated flooding.
“We’ve been working together on these projects for 10
years,” says Austin Becker, chair of URI’s Department of Marine Affairs and
director of URI’s graduate certificate in Coastal Resilience, “and the
collaboration has been truly wonderful.”
Funding for research and development came from the
Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
Department of Defense, and numerous other sources. In the years since, URI has
dedicated significant expertise and resources to develop the powerful suite of
tools, which play key roles in addressing coastal storm risks.
The Rhode Island state funding affirms support in the Ocean State for technology and tools that prepare for weather impact in advance.
“This is a huge win,” says Becker. “This will allow us to
keep these tools in operation, supporting the climate resilience needs of Rhode
Island. It’s gratifying to see the state recognize the value of this work to
municipalities and agencies from the Coastal Resources Management Council
(CRMC) and Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency to the Department of
Environmental Management and Department of Health.”
As federal funding priorities changed, Rhode Island pivoted
to maintain support for these critical emergency preparation and management
tools, as support from community users demonstrated the value of the tools.
The initial bill was sponsored by Rhode Island Rep. Terri Cortvriend (Middletown, Portsmouth), who first came to Rhode Island as a boat captain. She founded a marine plumbing firm here and is familiar with coastal issues as a member of the state’s marine trade association, but says she advocated for the provision out of concern over seeing Rhode Island lose funding for these critical decision support tools.
Introducing the measure, Cortvriend asked her peers to join
her in supporting Rhode Island’s homegrown coastal resilience technologies. “As
we face increasing risks to our population due to more frequent and severe
storms,” she said, “it is imperative that we equip our decision-makers and
emergency managers with the tools necessary to mitigate impacts, enhance
recovery, and reduce both human suffering and economic losses. These tools
provide crucial data and predictions for emergency management, resilience planning,
and community engagement across our state.”
Stephen McCandless M.S. ’21, GIS coordinator for the town of
Charlestown, said the tools are essential for emergency management, planning,
and coastal policy work in Rhode Island.
“These tools have proven indispensable in our ability to
manage and prepare for coastal hazards,” he said. “We rely on them regularly in
our operations.”
Save The Bay’s Jed Thorp also wrote in support, saying the organization’s mission to protect and improve Narragansett Bay depends on government partners who can deploy such tools to make informed decisions based on sound science.
With this investment from the state, URI will continue to
offer these three powerful tools to meet Rhode Island’s critical resilience
planning and emergency management needs:
RI-CHAMP (Coastal Hazards Analysis, Modeling, and
Prediction)
RI-CHAMP lets emergency responders predict damage to vital infrastructure in real time. The modeling system offers early warnings of coastal storm impacts, giving agencies critical time to prepare for hurricanes and nor’easters and can provide storm simulations that help officials plan for the future.
The program can create detailed flood models, examining impact to infrastructure, such as electrical transformers and backup generators, or the potential impact to hazardous waste in ports during a hurricane.
CHAMP is used by the Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management and Emergency Management Agency and has also been
utilized by the Department of Health and the Naval Station in Newport. CHAMP
has also been utilized by Connecticut and by the Massachusetts Coast Guard to
examine storm impact in those regions.
RI-CHAMP computations rely on the URI High Performance
Computing UNITY cluster, which has proven indispensable for real-time storm
forecasting. The IT Research Computing team led by Gaurav Khanna, director of
URI’s Institute for AI and Computational Research, has worked closely with
RI-CHAMP scientists to deliver valuable results on time using computational
resources built and managed in partnership with the University of
Massachusetts.
“CHAMP delivers accurate, high-resolution predictions of
storm surge, wind, and wave impacts,” says Isaac Ginis in URI’s Graduate School
of Oceanography. “Its capabilities have proven essential to emergency
management agencies as they confront increasingly intense storm events.”
While hurricanes often capture the most attention, he notes
that nor’easters—cold-season storms known for their high winds and heavy
surf—pose a growing threat in New England, straining infrastructure.
“With this state investment, CHAMP will remain a critical
tool for real-time emergency response and long-term coastal planning,” he says,
“helping Rhode Island communities better prepare for future storms.”
RI-CHAMP is currently expanding its capabilities to include
24/7 real-time monitoring of flood and meteorological data in a hyperlocal
network of smart flood, wind, and rain sensors at key infrastructure and
transportation routes, enhancing its ability to generate accurate, timely
alerts.
STORMTOOLS
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| Rhode Island Statewide Planning used STORMTOOLS to conduct vulnerability assessments for areas of Warren, Bristol, and Barrington. (STORMTOOLS) |
STORMTOOLS provides up-to-date predictions on flooding that could affect commercial and residential sites across the state, providing flood predictions essential for long-term planning. Development of the tool began in 2014 with creation of flooding maps for Washington County and eventually the entire state.
STORMTOOLS is also embedded in the CRMC coastal hazard
permitting system and used routinely to understand the risks of flooding with
consideration for sea level rise. The program is now expanding its reach to
include inland areas subject to riverine flooding. It has also been recently
extended to allow damage from hurricane winds.
“STORMTOOLS is one of the first tools in the nation to
provide access to estimates of storm flooding that explicitly include the
impact of climate change—sea level rise and enhanced precipitation,” says
Malcolm Spaulding, professor emeritus of ocean engineering.
STORMTOOLS is widely used by state agencies for planning and
risk assessment, with more than 10,000 users per year. The state has used the
program for analysis of vulnerable roadways and other infrastructure. The I-195
Commission relied on its data in increasing the elevation of the Providence
River Pedestrian Bridge.
MyCoast: Rhode Island
MyCoast: Rhode Island is
a portal used to collect and analyze crowd-sourced photos of flooding and
erosion across the Ocean State. The information collected captures the impact
of flood hazards today and illustrates possible future conditions with
increased storm activity.
This tool not only serves Rhode Islanders, it lets them
contribute to data-driven science. According to Casey Tremper, coastal
resilience specialist with Rhode Island Sea Grant and Coastal Resources Center,
MyCoast has obtained more than 5,200 pictures from 1,700 volunteer monitors
since its inception in 2014.
“The tools that URI has developed for monitoring, modeling,
and predicting coastal hazards are vital to how Rhode Island prepares for and
mitigates future impacts,” she says. Efforts are underway to expand the tool’s
capacity to also monitor inland flooding.
While MyCoast is a tool also used in other states, CHAMP and
STORMTOOLS are unique to Rhode Island.
“Nobody has programs like this,” says Becker. “No one else
is doing this kind of interdisciplinary, applied work focused on meeting the
unique needs of end users. We’ve co-developed this technology in close
partnership with Rhode Island’s emergency management and resilience planning
communities.
“Rhode Island and URI are innovators in this space. We need
these kinds of programs to make informed investments and emergency management
decisions. This funding is a testament to what URI as a land- and sea-grant
university does for the state.”
