Skip to content
a car driving through a flooded road

Improving Community Resiliency

Communities across Pennsylvania are experiencing the challenges of a changing climate, extreme weather events, and shrinking natural resources. Resiliency refers to a community’s ability to adapt and thrive despite the threats. Pennsylvania Sea Grant works to improve resiliency by connecting partners, decision-makers, and communities to each other, and to the timely and relevant resources that can lead to informed policy decisions, supported economies, and healthy, resilient communities

Severe Weather, Hazard Mitigation, and Resiliency in Erie, Pennsylvania

Water Equity and Vulnerable Communities

Extreme weather has detrimental impacts to vulnerable populations. As a part of the NOAA Water Equity Project, Pennsylvania Sea Grant compiled a background assessment on the impacts of severe weather events, which includes information about Erie’s community demographics, the influence of historic redlining on current day structure, vulnerabilities, and community challenges, to guide potential projects. The region was assessed on location-specific demographics, green space access, environmental health, and public health information.

This report will be used by Sea Grant professionals responsible for choosing sites for the water equity project and implementing these projects in the community.

Hazard Mitigation Planning

Erie County planners rely on a county-based hazard mitigation plan to adequately prepare for and respond to natural hazards. The county plan is updated every five years to reflect changing conditions and community vulnerabilities, and input from the public helps to inform and guide the plan.

In 2021, Pennsylvania Sea Grant conducted one extreme weather survey, assessing the coastal resilience and vulnerability of seven municipalities, and facilitated a planning workshop for municipal officials. The results of these outreach activities and the community input identified two areas where the county could invest time and funds to mitigate or reduce natural hazard impacts – green stormwater infrastructure and low-impact development. The survey results were shared with Erie County planners, resulting in both green stormwater infrastructure and low-impact development being added into the updated Erie County Hazard Mitigation plan. 

Nineteen Erie municipalities have adopted the county’s hazard mitigation plan, making them eligible to receive federal FEMA funding to mitigate or reduce natural hazard impacts. 

Chester City Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan

Pennsylvania Sea Grant worked with the City of Chester to help the community become more resilient to flooding and extreme weather hazards. Known as the oldest city in Pennsylvania, the City of Chester is situated on the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. While Chester has experienced financial distress in recent years, community leaders are revitalizing the waterfront and surrounding communities.  

Everyday life for the more than 34,000 residents of the area includes dealing with extreme weather events like floods and heat waves. To help city officials and communities plan for these, and future impacts, Pennsylvania Sea Grant partnered with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to produce the Chester City Green Stormwater Infrastructure Plan.

The plan provides a framework for expanding the use of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) to enhance stormwater management, reduce volume and flooding, protect water quality, and continue revitalizing the City of Chester. The plan provides a blueprint for implementing GSI in Chester including technologies, techniques, and locations for GSI implementation. The need for a GSI plan was identified in Chester City’s Vision 2020 comprehensive plan.

Partners in this effort include the City of Chester, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Delaware County Planning Department, and Pennsylvania Sea Grant. Major funding provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Federation and partial funding provided by NOAA National Sea Grant College Program.

Contact Us to request a copy of the Plan.

Join Our Newsletter

Keep up with the latest news and events by signing up below.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from Sea Grant Pennsylvania. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.