About our application: Broadband Climate Risk Mitigation Tool

Welcome to the Broadband Climate Risk Mitigation Tool, a web application designed to help communities and organizations make informed decisions about broadband deployment while considering natural hazard risks. Our tool combines hazard risk data with broadband access information so communities can maximize the resilience and effectiveness of their broadband infrastructure projects funded under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

The challenge: Weather- and climate-related risks to broadband networks

Broadband networks play a critical role in connecting communities and fostering economic growth. However, networks face numerous challenges posed by extreme weather. Wildfires, extreme temperatures, flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather-related events can disrupt and damage broadband infrastructure, leading to service outages and hindering emergency response efforts. Since retrofitted and new infrastructure for broadband might be expected to have a lifetime of 20 years or more, entities applying for BEAD funding must account not only for current risks but also for the changing climate and increased frequency of extreme weather events.

Our solution: Informed decisions for resilient broadband deployment

The Broadband Climate Risk Mitigation Tool provides entities with a comprehensive set of resources to evaluate and address weather- and climate-related risks during broadband infrastructure planning and deployment. Our application enables the following:

1. Initial hazard screening and identification: Identifies which geographic areas require an initial hazard screening for current weather-related risks. By inputting location data, users can assess potential hazards affecting the proposed broadband infrastructure. Hazard risk and broadband access data are overlaid so that users can identify hazard risks in areas with the greatest broadband need.
2. Mitigation strategies: From selecting appropriate technology platforms to adopting alternative siting and redundancy measures, the tool offers high-level recommendations to safeguard broadband assets.

Data sources

1. FCC: Broadband Data Collection (BDC) provides information about the internet services available to broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) across the country. As part of the BDC, all ISPs must file data with the FCC twice a year on where they offer mass-market Internet access service using their own broadband network facilities. Our tool uses BDC data last updated on July 25, 2023.
2. FEMA: The National Risk Index (NRI) is a measure of the relative risk of natural hazards for each county and census tract in the United States. In our application, we focus on the NRI’s Expected Building Loss estimates as a proxy for broadband infrastructure vulnerability. The source includes data on natural hazards, social vulnerability, and community resilience.

Key terms

• Expected Annual Building Loss is the average economic loss to buildings in dollars resulting from natural hazards each year. Click here to learn more about how Expected Annual Loss is calculated.
• Risk scores are national percentile ranks derived from Expected Annual Building Loss estimates.
• Historic Building Loss Ratio is a natural hazard consequence factor that represents the estimated percentage of the exposed building value expected to be lost due to a natural hazard occurrence. Arizona State University’s SHELDUS loss data are used to calculate Historic Loss Ratio for most hazard types.
• Annualized Frequency is the expected frequency or probability of a hazard occurrence per year.
• Building Exposure is defined as the dollar value of the buildings determined to be exposed to a hazard. The maximum possible building exposure of a geographic area (census block, census tract, or county) is its building value as recorded in Hazus 6.0.
• Hazard ratings are provided in one of five qualitative categories describing the geographic area’s Expected Annual Building Loss values in comparison to all other communities at the same geographic level. Rating categories range from “Very Low” to “Very High.”
  • Very High: 80th to 100th percentiles
  • Relatively High: 60th to 80th percentiles
  • Relatively Moderate: 40th to 60th percentiles
  • Relatively Low: 20th to 40th percentiles
  • Very Low: 0th to 20th percentiles

Questions?

To learn more, reach out to us at broadband@ruralinnovation.us