Impact of a Workshop with Visualization and Ethics Discussion on Awareness of Flood Risk and Intent to Protect

Abstract Disasters such as storm surge flooding pose an escalating threat to vulnerable coastal communities. While advances in weather models and forecasts are essential for informing protective actions, improving communication with the public for heightened storm preparedness is equally important. In this report, we provide a quantitative evaluation of lessons learned in an online workshop involving over 150 college students. The workshop employed simulated visuals of flooding and role-playing scenarios about a fictitious college campus. In addition, we used an “ethical matrix” (EM) tool to enable stakeholders to systematically represent, discuss, understand, and weigh trade-offs and perspectives pertaining to potential impacts of anticipated flooding from an impending hurricane. Building on a previous summary of the workshop (Colle et al.), this report presents quantitative and qualitative results from hypotheses about the workshop’s effects on feelings of worry, intent to take protective action, and increased awareness of others’ situations and concerns. These findings provide insights for refining hypotheses and designs for workshops with communities vulnerable to storm surge flooding. Significance Statement Traditionally, flood warnings rely on forecasts, storm path diagrams, and evacuation orders. Additional communication strategies are needed to help people grasp individual and communal impacts. This paper presents quantitative evidence that communication strategies that help people “feel” the likely impact of flooding not only on themselves but also on those around them are associated with intent to protect oneself and others, including vulnerable populations. We also provide a toolkit of supplemental material for replicating some or all of the approaches tested.