A Category 5 hurricane is the biggest fear of most coastal Floridians, but Coastal Waterways – a Vero-based engineering and emergency management firm – has just issued a report concluding it would only take the storm surge created by a Cat 3 to put much of Indian River Shores under water. The Indian River Shores storm vulnerability assessment, mandated and paid for by the state, identifies the Shores Public Safety Department building, the Town Hall, the adjacent cell tower, the FPL electrical substation on Fred Turek Drive, and at least seven wastewater lift stations as potentially at risk from the surge of a Cat 3 storm. According to a flood map in the study, water could be desk-high in Town Hall and cover most of the rest of town in 1 to 4 feet of water. The study also includes grim photos of flood-ravaged Florida properties and neighborhoods to show what is at stake as the state tries to take stock of increasing flood risks driven by global warming and sea level rise. The study “will assist the town in its discussions with the county and other larger entities that impact the town” such as the Florida Department of Transportation, said Shores town manager James Harpring. “The vulnerability assessment may give us a lot more detailed scientific information to work ... on mitigating the risk.” “Any community that has an emergency management center or fire-rescue, those are critical facilities, followed by electrical transformers and lift stations,” said engineer Steve Boehning, president of Coastal Waterways. Now that the assessment is complete, it’s time to create an adaptation plan to develop strategies to reduce the risks that were identified, Boehning added. “Then you prioritize the items and start chipping away at the plan.” The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which paid for the study, also provides funding for adaptation plans, according to Boehning. In addition, municipalities that complete the studies will receive a 50-percent match on additional DEP grants to fund projects that mitigate flooding risks. Florida Power & Light recently obtained a permit from the town to build a wall around its substation on Fred Turek Drive just a few hundred yards from the Indian River Lagoon, Harpring said. “FPL is always leaning ahead when it comes to vulnerability.” The flooding risk to wastewater lift stations – which are devices that pump sewage from lower elevations to higher ones – is mostly centered on electrical panels. A simple fix could be raising up the panels a few feet above any projected flood level, Boehning said. “My experience with the town tells me that Indian River Shores is very forward-thinking and already sets its standards higher when it comes to new projects and new construction,” Boehning said. “A lot of other communities in Florida have not thought about it. I think it’s very good that this program is going to be implemented statewide.” A few years back, Indian River Shores upgraded its building code to require that a building’s lowest floor be elevated at least two foot above the Base Flood Elevation, where most other Florida communities only require one foot of elevation, Harpring said. And all new road construction in town includes curbing that is wider than typical curbs to provide better drainage and catch basins – drainage structures that trap leaves and dirt so they don’t clog the storm drain system. “So, we’ve already been chipping away at some of these [risks],” Harpring said. “Our residents are pretty well tuned in to the fact that they’ve got the lagoon on one side and the ocean on the other.” “My hope is that all communities use this tool in all their departments,” Boehning added. “Public works, emergency management, building and planning, can all be using this information. The Indian River Shores Vulnerability Assessment also estimates the current and future risks of flooding from high tides and 100-year rainstorm events. According to projections by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), sea levels are expected to rise from approximately .76 feet to 1.5 feet by 2040 and from 1.32 feet to 3.37 feet by 2070. Both studies detail flooding risks for those possible circumstances. In a worst-case scenario, a Cat 3 storm surge in 2070 would inundate the town government center and private homes with 6.5 to 7.5 feet of water. The county completed a similar assessment in March, conducted by Pasadena, California-based consulting and engineering firm, Tetra Tech, Inc. The main high-risk areas from a Cat 3 storm surge identified in the countywide study include the entire barrier island and both shores of the Indian River Lagoon, canals, the St. John’s River, and other low-lying areas. “Completing the assessment is an essential step in ensuring our eligibility for potential Resilient Florida funding, which can help us to support projects that address risks in our community,” said Kylie Yanchula, Indian River County’s natural resources director. “I’m hoping that what will come out of this is the ability to make better-informed decisions about development,” said Commissioner Laura Moss when the draft report was presented to commissioners on March 11, the second of two required public hearings. Commissioners adopted the finalized report on March 25 and forwarded it to the DEP.