A young tech company is helping Charlotte County become more resilient to storm surge events by providing local crews and officials with real-time information to stay ahead of flooding risks.
Hyfi LLC’s co-founders Brandon Wong and Branko Kerkez developed storm surge monitoring devices that, when placed near water, provide data for officials, while the public can track where surge is occurring by accessing a portal through Wi-Fi.
In November, county Water Quality and Resiliency Manager Brandon Moody contacted the firm, Wong said. Moody thought the storm surge devices would be perfect for Charlotte County, purchasing five devices’ monitoring services at an annual cost of $1,495 each.
“We’re still in the process of installing the monitors. Four are in place, and we’re working on siting the fifth one now. Once they’ve been surveyed and calibrated, we’ll make the data available to the public,” Moody said May 6.
Wong said the sensors use sound, emitting tiny chirps, similar to sonar, to determine how high the water is without ever touching it. Each sensor times how long it takes for the sound to reflect off the water’s surface and sends that data wirelessly to the company’s web/mobile app.
“This allows city crews and managers to easily track rising water levels and quickly respond before flood impacts worsen,” Wong said.
The monitoring devices will be located around Charlotte Harbor near Fishermen’s Village, the Tom Adams Bridge in Englewood, Gasparilla Island, El Jobean and Lemon Bay.
“The goal is to create a public portal for residents to view the data in real-time,” Moody said.
While he didn’t provide a firm date for that to be completed, Moody said he expects everything will be set up by summer.
Charlotte County was ravaged by storm surge events from the back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton in September and October 2024, when the downtown area of Punta Gorda resembled a river, with other parts of the county also sustaining flood damage to structures.
County officials said Hurricane Helene caused storm surge of 3 to 5 feet, destroying eight structures and damaging more than 2,000 structures.
Two weeks later, Hurricane Milton caused storm surge levels of 5 to 8 feet throughout the county, including up the Peace River. The county completed more than 5,900 damage assessments, revealing more than 2,500 structures sustained major damage, with approximately 250 homes being destroyed.
The Hyfi data will indicate to county officials where storm surge resiliency is needed most, and public safety officials can alert residents and business owners when a storm surge is headed their way.
Hyfi has a local connection to Charlotte County, the second Florida county to use the devices, as Kerkez is from nearby Sarasota.
Kerkez, chief technology officer of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Hyfi, is an associate professor of engineering at the University of Michigan and served as Wong’s mentor when he was pursuing his doctorate.
Wong, a systems engineer with dual training in computer science and civil engineering, led the deployment of state-scale sensor networks in Michigan and the development of blueprints for smart water systems.
He and Kerkez had been working together for more than a decade in water technology when they founded Hyfi in 2020.
“We started Hyfi after seeing how often communities were directly impacted by severe storms and flash flooding — often with little or no warning,” Wong said.
He said many communities were relying on outdated systems or nothing at all to track water levels.
Their devices are in nearly 100 communities, cities and counties across the country, including Pinellas County, New Orleans, Dearborn, Michigan; Cleveland, and Delaware Bay.
