Challenges Associated with a Multi-Hazard Characterization of Hurricane Maria
Abstract
In 2017 hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, caused approximately $270 billion in economic losses and hundreds of deaths. While the impacts of these three disasters are ongoing, those from hurricane Maria are especially acute as the full scope of the disaster is still being tallied. In addition to the intense hurricane force winds, Hurricane Maria produced a range of geophysical hazards across Puerto Rico. Combined with the Puerto Rico's unique geography, the spatiotemporal interaction of these multiple hazards led to a situation where intense rainfall, flooding, landslides, and storm surge interacted to create a unique compound hazard event prior to, during, and after Hurricane Maria's landfall.
There are unique challenges inherent in conducting a multi-hazard characterization of Hurricane Maria. Among these are the relatively low spatial and temporal resolution provided by in situ and remotely sensed environmental observations, and the failure of much of the instrumentation needed to collect the hazard data during the event (e.g., weather radar, automated wind measurement systems, stream gauges, etc.). One example is that post-storm assessments indicate that the wind environment was not adequately captured by traditional measurement systems, when compared with wind-related damage patterns. This is especially notable over complex topography where a wind speed-up effect is hypothesized to have caused increased wind-related damage to many structures. Another example with respect to the temporal domain is the occurrence of hurricane Irma's rainfall two weeks prior, and its potential impact on preconditioning the environment to landslide and flooding hazards. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) studies the impacts of individual and compound extreme weather event hazards under the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Act and the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP). This presentation will examine the data collection and observational challenges in characterizing the interaction of these multiple hazards, and the key questions underpinning the research strategy of a multi-hazard characterization of Hurricane Maria.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMNH33D1041W
- Keywords:
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- 4306 Multihazards;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 4313 Extreme events;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 4328 Risk;
- NATURAL HAZARDSDE: 4333 Disaster risk analysis and assessment;
- NATURAL HAZARDS