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Lee County Department of Public Safety

Lee County deployed a turnkey, modular network of real-time water-level gauges for real-time visibility across rivers, streams, and canals.

 

It answers the #1 surge question—are levels rising or falling?—and helps the county make faster, safer decisions during storms.

When the first street bridge was being shut down, we were able to talk about it in real time. I was able to redirect my reporter to come in from the south and so we were able to also protect our vehicles. 

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- Katie Walls, FOX 4 WFTX

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â–¶ Watch this moment (02:24)

The Story

Lee County was looking for trustworthy, real-time visibility across rivers, streams, and canals, during hurricanes. With Hohonu's rapid deployment platform, the county stood up complete flood sensor network that included 11 new gauges on short notice directly before Hurricanes Helene and Milton. County leaders and public stakeholders alike now use the live dashboards make faster, safer decisions.

11

Initial Gauge Deployments

3 Weeks

Deployment Time Period

19

Gauge Expansion After Successful Initial Period

Problem

  • ​Vulnerable to hurricanes/storm surge but limited inland water-level visibility

  • Couldn’t reliably answer the key question: Are levels rising or falling?

  • Needed scientifically rigorous data that could be deployed quickly, scaled, and shared with NWS/NOAA, media, and agencies.

Stakeholders

  • Department of Public Safety

    • Funding sensor deployments​

  • Natural Resources

    • Partnered in installations​

  • Broadcast Meteorologists

    • Referencing Hohonu's dashboard in real-time to inform public communications​

  • National Weather Service / NOAA

    • Ingesting Hohonu's data statewide (in process)​

Solution

Outcomes

  • Real-time inland awareness and the ability to anticipate closures before intersections flood.

  • Operational wins: broadcast meteorologist rerouted staff around a bridge closure and protected vehicles (the general public has access to this data because Hohonu's public dashboard)

  • Stronger public confidence - scientifically rigorous data behind every alert.

  • A scalable model nearby communities can adopt, strengthening inter-agency partnerships

Solution

  • Deployed a turnkey Hohonu network, adding 11 gauges across the coast as well as inland

    • Includes deploying 2 sites in the week between Hurricane Helene and Milton

  • Used live dashboards to track conditions and time lags/progressions across the network.

  • Sharing the same data with NWS/NOAA and local media for consistent, location-specific messaging

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