Community Resilience to Natural-Hazard Induced Above Ground Petroleum Storage Tanks Contaminant Releases and Exposures Through Data-Driven Risk Assessment

During Hurricanes Katrina, Isaac, and Harvey, thousands of barrels of petroleum were released from above-ground petroleum storage tanks (ASTs) and spread by floodwaters into surrounding communities. ASTs are an essential component in the energy sector, utilized for short-term storage during petroleum production, processing, refining, and distribution. Unfortunately, the pressures and loads exerted by floodwaters can induce a variety of ASTs failures, such as tank displacement and equipment collapse. When failure occurs, changing environmental conditions can shift human exposure mechanisms and modify the capacity of affected communities to respond to a crisis, amplifying the potential impact on ecosystems, economies, and the built environment. Therefore, a method is needed to assess the risks posed to fence-line communities from natural hazard-induced AST failures. Thus, we developed a data-driven, generalizable risk assessment framework by evaluating physical vulnerability, social vulnerability, and exposure. We have applied this framework to North Charleston, South Carolina, a majority non-white region with extensive industrial assets, including chemical plants and bulk storage terminals. Various flood and storm surge scenarios were developed for analysis and comparison using 2-D unsteady flow models. Additionally, fragility models for each tank within the case study region were constructed to assess physical vulnerability under each hazard scenario. This was accomplished by utilizing tank characteristics derived from a novel multi-class AST dataset that leverages high-resolution, remotely-sensed imagery across the contiguous United States. We assess social vulnerability by employing publicly available datasets, ground-truthed by focus groups, surveys, and mapping activities. We then evaluate contaminant exposure from petroleum releases in floodwaters using a 1-D sediment transport model. Using the outputs of the framework, we co-developed strategies for risk communication and mitigation by creating a mapping application and emergency readiness plans with community stakeholders.