| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | October 30, 2018 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | April 22, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1856256 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jacqueline Meszaros
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | November 1, 2018 |
| End Date: | October 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $49,909.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $59,883.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1000 E 5TH ST GREENVILLE NC US 27858-2502 (252)328-9530 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2200 S Charles Blvd, Ste 2900 Greenville NC US 27858-4353 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and th |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Because the location and timing of future natural disasters are unknown, it is difficult to time a research study to sample an impacted population prior to, during, and after a disaster occurs. Because of some good fortune, this research project can do exactly that. The research team was already administering an online survey prior to and during the landfall of Hurricane Florence. The goal of the survey is to identify homeowner preferences related to home buyout programs (purchasing and destroying homes with high flood risk) and flood mitigation programs (subsidizing the elevation of homes with high flood risk). A substantial portion of the sample came from areas within the predicted path of Hurricane Florence. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project will survey the same respondents in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane (1-2 months after the event) and the more distant future (~ 6 months after the event). This methodology, combined with data on the geospatial location of the properties, will provide a unique understanding of how geographic proximity to a disaster event influences homeowner preference for different kinds of risk reduction strategies, as well as how these preferences evolve over time as the event and corresponding news coverage and recovery efforts associated with it become more distant in the memory of respondents. This scientific research contribution thus supports NSF's mission to promote the progress of science and to advance our national welfare. In this case, the benefits will be insights to improve management of homes in flood plains, which can save lives and reduce economic losses.
The purpose of this project is to identify the effect of demographic, location, and contract attributes on likelihood that the homeowner adopts flood mitigation or alternatively would accept an acquisition (buyout) offer. The survey is structured as a choice experiment with additional household level data collected on the homeowner, flood experience, perception of flood risk, and the physical address of the property. The property address will be used to identify structural characteristics in the public record, elevation, and FEMA flood zone designation, in addition to flood inundation maps for Hurricane Florence. This RAPID project will extend previous survey data, resurveying the 200 original respondents plus collecting an additional 400 responses to create a panel which will be surveyed two additional times to judge changes in perceptions.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project reports the results of a survey on flood mitigation activities and preferences to a national sample of US residents that reside within 100 km. of a coastline. We solicited responses before, during, and after Hurricanes Florence and Michael with special emphasis on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the US.
We examined the effect of physical proximity to, temporal proximity to, and local (Google) search interest in a hurricane event on subjective risk assessments and homeowner preferences for government risk mitigation programs.
Based on over 1,500 responses primarily from hurricane-threatened locations, we report the following findings:
- Price and nonprice attributes of both home acquisition (buyout) and elevation contracts have a substantial impact on homeowner willingness to agree to such contracts.
- Improving Buyout contract terms, namely increasing the amount of time homeowners have before they must vacate their property and decreasing the time that elapses before homeowner's are paid both increase the likelihood that homeowners will agree to a buyout contract.
- Allowing homeowners to keep the lot and retain the option to rebuild on it does not appear to increase the likelihood that homeowners will accept a buyout contract.
- Larger subsidies increase the likelihood that homeowners will opt for home elevation contracts.
- Homeowners are more willing to agree to buyout contracts after their home is damaged by a flood event, but a nontrivial segment of homeowners are willing to accept buyouts for homes prior to a damaging flood event.
- Subjective risk perceptions are more important than objective measures of flood risk. Willingness to accept a buyout contract offer is not significantly affected by the objective flood risk faced by the property as measured by flood maps and flood models, whereas subjective risk perceptions heavily influence homeowner willingness to accept a buyout contract.
- Willingness to accept risk mitigation contracts does not change significantly in areas of high search volume for Hurricane Florence nor does it significantly change over the three month period following the flood event.
This research will provide important information for policy aimed at reducing flood risk through buyout programs and grants for elevating homes. The results of this project have been disseminated to academic and practioner communities interested in reducing flood risk. This work has contributed to the training of a doctoral student in the design, administration and analysis of a survey of homeowners.
Last Modified: 03/01/2021
Modified by: Jamie B Kruse
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