Climatide

Sam Lehman / Flickr

Climate change is making weather more extreme, and that means more wind and flood damage. Are you ready?

Interested in helping with some local climate change research and maybe winning some cash to spend at Home Depot? Rhode Island Sea Grant is running a survey for homeowners in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts regarding attitudes and actions to reduce storm damage. The basic premise is to gauge buy-in on the idea that climate change is raising sea level and making storms more extreme, and that demands action to reduce risks from wind and flood damage.

I just spent about half an hour taking the survey, largely out of curiosity, and I can’t say that I recommend the experience unreservedly. I found it a bit frustrating, at times. The wording of some of the requests just didn’t quite make sense to me … but maybe it’s just me. And I did learn a bit about what officials think we should be doing to reduce the risk of damage from hurricanes, nor’easters, and other extreme storms. I also learned a bit about myself (To be quite honest, I think I came off looking pretty blasé and a bit over-confident). So it certainly wasn’t wasted time.

In case you’re not interested in the full experience but would like to see how you stack up in terms of storm preparedness, here are a few sample questions:

• Do you have – or intend to install – hurricane clips on your roof rafters?
• Do you have hurricane shutters or fitted plywood window covers?
• Have you trimmed or cut down trees that could damage your home?
• Are your furnace, water tank, and electrical panel above flood level?