The City of Evansville engaged KERAMIDA to conduct a Resiliency Assessment to investigate the potential hazards, impacts, and risks of climate change specific to the Evansville area. The purpose of the assessment was to identify potential impacts and vulnerabilities to the people, infrastructure, and economy and identify strategies to adapt to and mitigate those impacts. The goal is to increase the Evansville community’s resiliency.

The Vanderburgh County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (2018) provided a foundation for understanding historical data and impacts, but it did not consider projections due to climate change. The Resiliency Assessment updated future projections for the probability and magnitude of impacts to account for both historical data and climate changes for the area within city boundaries.

Hazards typically present within the City of Evansville and/or have significant historical occurrences were identified as the following:

• Droughts

• Extreme Temperatures

• Flooding

• Severe Storms

• Tornadoes

Risk and vulnerability assessments were completed for each hazard. The risk level was determined by the likelihood and impact of the hazard event using the formula: Risk = Likelihood x Impact . The vulnerability assessment analyzed which sectors and populations within the Evansville community are most impacted by the list of hazard events. The result of the assessment is a long list of adaptation strategies that the city can take to increase the resilience of the Evansville community.

This study was used to inform strategy and action development in the 2025 Evansville Climate Action Plan. The goals of the plan are to provide some level of community resiliency to climate change impacts, as well as co-benefits that positively affect the environment, economy, human health, and quality of life.

Photo credit: Alex Morgan Imaging