Flood Resiliency in the Face of Climate Change
The City of Fayetteville takes a data-driven approach to adapt to the new norm for storms
Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Hurricane Irma in 2017. Florence in 2018, then Dorian in 2019. Along with the rest of the southeastern United States, Fayetteville, North Carolina was reeling from the impact of more frequent and more severe storms and flooding. The city’s Public Services department needed a plan to prevent flooding—and for that they needed data. Sheila Thomas-Ambat shares how she led her organization from an absence of data and equity to a data-driven decision engine that gained favor from FEMA and funding for their flood resiliency plans, fulfilling the city’s quality-of-life goals.
About the speaker
Sheila Thomas-Ambat is the Public Services Director for the City of Fayetteville, where she leads a department of 200+ staff. She has over 26 years of engineering experience in both private and public sectors and has built an exemplary record of performance overseeing multidisciplinary teams for public works projects. She is an established leader in long-term strategic planning and resource oversight for water resources and capital improvement projects with a focus on collaboration, equity and results-based decision making. Thomas-Ambat is a licensed professional engineer with a Master of Science in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from Vanderbilt University.
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