[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 52 (Friday, March 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18904-18905]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05602]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Understanding the Human Response to Water Hazards: A Social 
Network Analysis

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the 
general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and 
continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of 
our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on November 24, 2023, during a 60-day comment period. 
This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: Understanding the Human Response to Water Hazards: A Social 
Network Analysis.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (New information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 790.
    Average Hours per Response: Semi-structured interviews: 1 hour; 
Survey: 15 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 227.50 Hours.
    Needs and Uses: This is a request for a new collection of 
information. The Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Program 
(SBES) in the Office of Science and Technology Integration for the 
National Weather Service (NWS) is sponsoring this data collection 
effort.
    Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the NWS SBES Program was

[[Page 18905]]

provided funding to better understand the human responses to water 
hazard services and products. This project seeks to understand and 
mitigate flooding outcomes for riverine communities, especially those 
that rank high on the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC's) Social 
Vulnerability Index (SVI), by conducting a Social Network Analysis 
(SNA) to study how stakeholders within two selected communities: 
Roanoke, Virginia; and Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Based on 
interviews with local government leaders and faith/community-based 
organizations (FCBOs) along with a survey of residents, the resulting 
SNA will map how messages are created and distributed, how they are 
accessed and understood, and how the information affects the decisions 
of emergency and water resource managers, first responders, community 
partners, and the general public as they prepare for, respond to, and 
recover from flooding events. While the NWS possesses some anecdotal 
knowledge of the dissemination and use of flood forecasts, a more 
complete accounting and formal analysis of the individuals and groups 
within these networks are needed. Ideally, the findings from the SNA in 
relation to the water hazard products and services will not only 
improve the NWS's understanding of who the stakeholders are, but also 
how they use the information provided and what they believe are the 
benefits for their constituents.
    The primary driver for this project comes from the direction of 
NOAA leadership to develop a social behavioral infrastructure with data 
that supports the NWS in providing equitable service delivery for all 
of its products and services. Based on H.R.3684 Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Provision 3: funding shall be used for 
coastal and inland flood and inundation mapping and forecasting, next-
generation water modeling activities such as modernized precipitation 
frequency and probable maximum studies, and transformative foundational 
social science research that build infrastructure and supports 
equitable service delivery to all communities. This project also aligns 
with Goal 3 of the NWS Strategic Plan to transform our Agency to meet 
current and future needs of society by (3.6) delivering actionable 
inland and coastal water resource and inundation information across all 
time scales to address the growing risk of flooding, drought, and low 
water flow as well as immediate and long range water management and 
planning; and by (3.8) understanding and applying the best social, 
behavioral, and economic sciences to clearly communicate information 
with communities in multiple languages and deliver equitable service 
for those historically underserved and socially vulnerable to attain 
the desired response to high impact events.
    Semi-structured interviews will be utilized to collect information 
from state and local government leaders, as well as FCBO leaders. A 
survey will be provided to residents of both communities, along with an 
in-person intercept survey provided to residents of Greenbrier County 
based on interviews with the FCBO leaders.
    The SNA maps derived from the data collected will be utilized by 
the following NWS offices:
     Community Engagement Program to support outreach and 
engagement activities with specific groups and the organizations that 
serve these populations.
     The Decision Support Integration Branch of the Analyze, 
Forecast, and Support Office to help them identify and recruit 
organizations, businesses, and individuals who may be well poised to 
become Weather-Ready Ambassadors.
    The raw data collected will be used by:
     The Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBES) 
Program in the Office of Science and Technology Integration in 
developing an Agent Based Model (ABM) that can demonstrate, describe, 
and potentially anticipate evacuation and mobility behaviors within a 
prescribed system for inland flooding events. If possible, the 
application of an ABM will support the development of mitigation 
efforts that stakeholders can test to understand how the actions of 
specific agents within a system could possibly alter outcomes of 
flooding events for a community.
    Affected Public: Local government, Not-for profit, and individuals 
or households.
    Frequency: Once.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: H.R.3684 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 
(IIJA), Provision 3: funding shall be used for coastal and inland flood 
and inundation mapping and forecasting, next-generation water modeling 
activities such as modernized precipitation frequency and probable 
maximum studies, and transformative foundational social science 
research that build infrastructure and supports equitable service 
delivery to all communities.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of 
this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently 
under 30-day Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search 
function and entering the title of the collection.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024-05602 Filed 3-14-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KE-P