Florida Water & Climate Alliance and Florida Flood Hub Workshop
Statewide Resiliency and the Florida Flood Hub
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
In-Person Workshop: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Hybrid Webinar: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Florida is at the forefront of climate change impacts, including rising sea levels, increased rainfall, and extreme weather events like hurricanes. Resiliency initiatives are vital to help communities adapt to these changes, safeguarding infrastructure, protecting natural resources, and fostering sustainable economic growth. This workshop cohosted by FloridaWCA and the Florida Flood Hub highlighted the resiliency efforts across the state, with a deep dive into the collaborative work being done at the Flood Hub through their Sea Level Rise and Rainfall Workgroups.
This was the first time since 2020 that a FloridaWCA event had an in-person option, and the first hybrid workshop where over 120 people joined us via zoom for the presentation portion and another 40 gathered in person taking advantage of opportunities for additional networking, enjoy morning refreshments and lunch provided by the Flood Hub, and participate in the afternoon workshop focused on identifying which data products would be valuable to end-users.
Invited Speakers for Hybrid Webinar Session with Links to Presentation Slides:
- Tirusew Asefa, System Decision Support Manager, Tampa Bay Water– FloridaWCA Overview and Looking Back
- Mark Rains, Chief Science Officer and Professor, USF School of Geosciences – Resilient Florida Program Overview
- Chuck Jacoby, Strategic Program Director, USF College of Marine Science – Florida Flood Hub for Applied Research and Innovation Overview
- Wes Brooks, Chief Resiliency Officer, State of Florida – State Resiliency Program Update and Resources
- Gary Mitchum, Associate Dean and Professor, USF College of Marine Science – Flood Hub Sea Level Rise Workgroup Update
- Jayantha “Obey” Obeysekera, Director and Research Professor, Sea Level Solutions Center, Institute of Environment, FIU – Flood Hub Rainfall Workgroup Update
- Stephanie Verhulst, Biologist, US Army Corp of Engineers – Florida Silver Jackets: Collaboratively Working Towards Resiliency
Facilitator: Darlene Velez, Research Coordinator, University of Florida Water Institute; Coordinator, Florida Water and Climate Alliance
In-person Agenda:
9:00 am – 9:30am Check-in and Networking
9:30 am – 10:00 am Welcome and Introductions
10:00 am – 12:00 pm Hybrid Presentations
12:00 pm -1:00 pm Lunch (provided by the Flood Hub)
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Workshop
3:00 pm – 3:30 pm Wrap up and Adjourn
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm Optional Tour
Address of Meeting:
Maritime and Defense Technology Hub
In the St. Pete Innovation District
450 8th Ave SE
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Visitor Parking located across the street.
Lodging Options
Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront
333 1st Street SE,
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
0.6 miles from meeting
Hampton Inn & Suites
St. Petersburg Downtown
421 4th Ave North
St Petersburg, Florida 33701
0.9 miles from meeting
Hollander Hotel
421 4Th Ave North
St Petersburg, Florida 33701
1.5 miles from meeting
