Delaware taps artificial intelligence to evacuate crowded beaches when floods hit

Delaware's low elevation mixed with crowded beaches and limited exit routes make the state particularly vulnerable to massive flooding, but officials hope an influx of federal infrastructure money will trigger future evacuation plans automatically via artificial intelligence.

The Biden administration was set to announce a total of $53 million in grants Thursday to Delaware and seven other states aimed at high-tech solutions to traffic congestion problems. Although the money comes from the infrastructure law the president signed in 2021, many of the programs — including the $5 million for flood response efforts in Biden's home state — have evolved since then.

“What's new is the predictive analysis; the machine learning,” U.S. Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt, Delaware's former transportation secretary, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Because now we have access to all this data, it's hard for us as humans to figure out what is data and what is actionable information.”

Delaware officials pull off evacuation-type procedures every week during the tourism season, with long lines of cars headed to the beaches on weekend mornings and back at night. But flooding presents a unique problem — including standing water on roads that can make the most direct routes out of town even more treacherous than simply sheltering in place.