Beyond the FIRM: Large-scale flood modeling for state infrastructure climate resilience

As the largest comprehensive public university system in the US, the State University of New York (SUNY) manages a large portfolio of 64 campuses and 2,388 buildings, representing 40% of the state’s owned infrastructure. SUNY is actively investing in decarbonization with a goal of net zero by 2050, aligned with the New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and Executive Order 22. At the same time, SUNY will also have to protect its critical assets from the ongoing impacts of climate change. To meet this challenge, SUNY has launched a landmark Climate Risk & Resilience Assessment so that climate projections will inform operational and capital planning. Phase 1 focuses on asset exposure to impacts from all climate hazards.

Participants will go behind the scenes of a data-driven transformation, moving beyond static, historical FEMA maps to embrace high-resolution, climate-conditioned flood modeling. This session explores the technical collaboration between SUNY, Arcadis and Fathom, detailing how the Climate Risk Nexus platform ingests pluvial, fluvial and coastal data to translate raw hazard metrics into actionable Asset Risk Scores.

We will examine the methodology used to move from “mapped” floodplains to “modeled” exposure, accounting for specific facility thresholds, critical infrastructure locations (such as basement-level MEP systems) and replacement values. By evaluating the intersection of future-state flood and other hazards with real-world building vulnerability, this project provides a solid planning foundation for large-scale hazard mitigation. Attendees will learn how these insights allow CFMs and facility managers to prioritize capital plan roadmaps, ensuring that every dollar spent on stormwater redesign, coastal hardening and capital renewal is backed by industry-leading flood intelligence.

Learning outcomes

By attending this session, participants will gain insight into:

• Evaluating future flood exposure: Identify the limitations of static FEMA (FIRM) maps and explain the advantages of complementing the existing FEMA view with climate-conditioned, 2D hydraulic modelling for long-range planning.
• Quantifying asset-specific exposure: Apply a standardized methodology to translate raw hazard data and depth-damage functions into prioritized Asset Exposure Scores.
• Mitigating non-SFHA hazards: Develop strategies to address pluvial (flash flood) risks for institutional assets that fall outside of traditional Special Flood Hazard Areas.
• Prioritizing capital investments: Utilize “defensible” flood intelligence to justify high-standard resilience funding to state auditors, insurers, and grant reviewers.
• Integrating multi-peril risks: Analyze how flood hazards intersect with “threat multipliers” like extreme heat and power failure to impact operational continuity.
• Managing collaborative frameworks: Implement best practices for integrating private-sector flood data into public-sector engineering workflows.

Tailored to meet the professional development needs of ASFPM members, this webinar focuses on the application of advanced hydraulic modeling, hazard mitigation and the management of flood risk at a state-agency scale. This course is pre-approved for Continuing Education Credits (CECs) for Certified Floodplain Managers (CFMs). 

This webinar is the third in a series designed to support US flood risk management professionals in making early, informed decisions for adaptation and resilience. Watch the previous sessions on-demand: 

• Understanding statewide flood risk to fast-track resilience is available
• Navigating the future of flood mapping: A hybrid model for a fuller view of risk