U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

After catastrophic flooding in New Orleans destroyed two hospitals, the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System is planning a replacement facility that will incorporate resilience against future extreme events.

In North Carolina's Outer Banks, the coastal Town of Nags Head is vulnerable to flooding from heavy rain events, hurricanes, tropical storms, nor’easters, and storm surge. To add insult to injury, vulnerability is increasing with sea level rise. Town managers and residents recognized the need to build the town's resilience and moved forward to prioritize and plan.

Residents of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, have found an unlikely but financially rewarding pairing: county efforts to keep mosquito populations under control are reducing residents' flood insurance premiums.

In Massachusetts, Manchester-by-the-Sea's wastewater treatment plant is located right on the coast. The town's water utility is working with the EPA's Creating Resilient Water Utilities program to consider its adaptation options.

In the wake of a hurricane and beset by an economic recession, the University of Texas Medical Branch on Galveston Island rebuilt for future resilience.

Following a role play simulation on community planning for climate adaptation in Georgetown County, South Carolina, participants reported increased empathy for differing viewpoints and a high level of support for stakeholder engagement in planning processes.

Middle school students are working to help residents recognize and reduce flood risk in their coastal Georgia city. Their efforts are also earning the community credits to lower their costs for flood insurance.

Frequent and severe inland flooding is an increasing problem for North Carolina's transportation system. A multi-agency team is working to understand the impacts of these floods—and to consider possible solutions.

After a series of storms ravaged Puerto Rican beaches, a team from the University of Puerto Rico used innovative restoration techniques—including biomimicry—to create resilient dune systems that provide protection from coastal storms.

Property owners in New Jersey can check their vulnerability to sea level rise and storm surge using an interactive mapping tool—the NJ Flood Mapper. Here's how one restaurant owner used results from the tool in his long-term planning.

Faced with the possibility of a storm similar to Hurricane Harvey hitting Boston, the City Mayor had city planners evaluate the resilience of the city's stormwater system to a 500-year storm.