Using Lasers, a Van, and Engineering Models, Rutgers Team Maps Where the Flood Water Will Go

Rutgers engineering professor Jie Gong and his team drove through areas hit hard by Superstorm Sandy to collect 3-D images of hurricane damage to help plan a smart recovery.

A professor of engineering leads an effort to digitalize New Jersey communities to predict flooding and gauge storm damage risk. The forecast calls for a foot of rain. Floodwater will submerge roads and ruin structures. The question is which roads and structures. While flood maps have provided some answers, surveys are laborious and expensive, so they rarely have all the …