Adapting To Coastal Storms And Flooding: Report On A 2014 Survey Of Old Saybrook Residents

Summary

This report summarizes the findings of the survey Adapting to Coastal Storms and Flooding conducted in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, from June through August 2014. The survey evaluated the attitudes and preferences of Old Saybrook residents toward the risks of coastal storms and flooding, along with potential adaptation actions that could be taken to address these risks. The survey was conducted through a collaboration of Clark University and The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut, and funded by a research grant from the Northeast Sea Grant Consortium. The survey was developed and pretested over more than two years in a collaborative process involving economists and natural scientists; meetings with town officials and stakeholder groups; and multiple focus groups comprised of community residents. This development and pretesting ensured that information in the survey was accurate and that the survey could be easily understood and answered by the public. The survey was mailed to a sample of 1,728 randomly selected Old Saybrook residents. Out of 1,489 deliverable surveys, 489 were returned for a response rate of 32.8%. This is a relatively high rate of return for a mail survey, and suggests the relevance of the topic to the public. The survey included a wide range of attitudinal questions, along with referendum-​style voting questions that enabled residents to vote for or against different types of hypothetical adaptation alternatives for the town. Unlike typical public opinion surveys, this approach enables quantification​of the specific types of tradeoffs that residents would support, when considering alternative ways to protect their town. Results provide insight into the way that Old Saybrook residents understand the risks facing their town, and their preferences for how those risks should be addressed.

Additional Resources

Adapting to Coastal Storms and Flooding Report on a 2014 Survey of Waterford Residents

Citation

Johnston, R. J., Whelchel, A. W., Makriyannis, C., & Yao, L. (2015). Adapting to coastal storms and flooding: Report on a 2014 survey of Old Saybrook residents.