Businesses in Groton, New London and Stonington experiencing flooding during storms and extreme high tides are being invited to participate in a new business engagement initiative of the MyCoast Connecticut project.

The initiative is being led by Jason Hine, owner of The Ditty Bag Market & Café in downtown Mystic, under the supervision of staff of the three UConn-affiliated organizations that established the MyCoast Connecticut pilot project. Connecticut Sea Grant, the Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation started My Coast Connecticut in 2025 as a pilot project in the three communities, but efforts towards statewide expansion have begun.

Since the new initiative began in September, five additional businesses have accepted Hine’s invitation to join the more than 450 individual users already signed up to use the MyCoast CT app. The business owners have agreed to post flyers about MyCoast visible to their customers, and to submit photos of storm and flooding events affecting them to the MyCoast app. The photos submitted to MyCoast are uploaded to a Connecticut database, where they can be used to help with local resilience planning and storm preparedness.

"Like many small business owners, I am deeply concerned about increased damages and rising costs due to severe storms and increased flooding,” Hine said. “Because so many business leaders are also community leaders, it’s time to bring us together and do something about it. Forming a team of restaurants, cafes, and retail shops to document the results of flooding and storm damage can help our leaders make better, informed decisions on how to best protect us. And because the MyCoast app is so easy to use, it’s the perfect tool for the job. Together, we can literally make it our business to mitigate the effects of extreme weather."

In addition to The Ditty Bag, businesses that have downloaded the app thus far are: Tidal River Clothing Company in Groton; Fiddleheads Food Co-op and Flavours of Life, both in downtown New London; and No Other Book Like This and the Mystic Cycle Centre, both in Stonington.

“Working with local businesses has helped facilitate valuable community connections and expand awareness of MyCoast Connecticut,” said Sarah Schechter, Connecticut Sea Grant assistant extension educator leading the project. “Through these collaborations, more than 50 people have scanned QR codes on flyers displayed at participating businesses to learn more about the MyCoast app and how they can use the tool. We look forward to continuing to strengthen these relationships and encouraging more people to get involved.”

Businesses in Groton, New London and Stonington interested in using the MyCoast Connecticut app are encouraged to contact Hine at: jasonh@thedittybag.com.

“It’s important to engage businesses in this effort since they interact daily with people in the community,” said Katie Lund, training and engagement coordinator at the Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve. “While raising awareness about storm and high tide impacts with customers, owners can also help by submitting their own local photos during these flood events. The partnership with Jason and other business owners helps our project team have a greater connection to communities that we wouldn’t otherwise have.”

MyCoast Connecticut is part of the national MyCoast project that has thus far been implemented in nine East Coast states as well as Washington state and the Virgin Islands.

The MyCoast Connecticut app can be accessed by using this link: https://s.uconn.edu/floodphotosct or by scanning on the QR code below:

For more information about MyCoast Connecticut, contact Schechter at: mailto:sarah.schechter@uconn.edu.

Caption: Jason Hine, owner of The Ditty Bag Market & Café, has a MyCoast CT flyer on the bulletin board at the front of his store on Roosevelt Ave. in Mystic. Photo: Judy Benson