Analysis of Damage Caused by Hydrometeorological Disasters in Texas, 1960–2016

Abstract

Property damages caused by hydrometeorological disasters in Texas during the period 1960–2016 totaled $54.2 billion with hurricanes, tropical storms, and hail accounting for 56%, followed by flooding and severe thunderstorms responsible for 24% of the total damages. The current study provides normalized trends to support the assertion that the increase in property damage is a combined contribution of stronger disasters as predicted by climate change models and increases in urban development in risk prone regions such as the Texas Gulf Coast. A comparison of the temporal distribution of damages normalized by population and GDP resulted in a less statistically significant increasing trend per capita. Seasonal distribution highlights spring as the costliest season (March, April and May) while the hurricane season (June through November) is well aligned with the months of highest property damage. Normalization of property damage by GDP during 2001–2016 showed Dallas as the only metropolitan statistical area (MSA) with a significant increasing trend of the 25 MSAs in Texas. Spatial analysis of property damage per capita highlighted the regions that are at greater risk during and after a major disaster given their limited economic resources compared to more urbanized regions. Variation in the causes of damage (wind or water) and types of damage that a “Hurricane” can produce was investigated using Hazus model simulation. A comparison of published damage estimates at time of occurrence with simulation outputs for Hurricanes Carla, 1961; Alicia, 1983; and Ike, 2008 based on 2010 building exposure highlighted the impact of economic growth, susceptibility of wood building types, and the predominant cause of damage. Carla and Ike simulation models captured less than 50% of their respective estimates reported by other sources suggesting a broad geographical zone of damage with flood damage making a significant contribution. Conversely, the model damage estimates for Alicia are 50% higher than total damage estimates that were reported at the time of occurrence suggesting a substantial increase in building exposure susceptible to wind damage in the modeled region from 1983 – 2010.

Multi-Method Tracking of Monsoon Floods Using Sentinel-1 Imagery

“…Because of the different estimations of the open water area at the beginning of the period of interest and the absence of an official estimation, our analysis was able to provide only the relative change of the open water area coverage estimated for each different flood pulse occurring in the reference period. Notably, our analysis indicated that the first (main) flood pulse produced an increase in total water area between 245 and 326 km 2 , the second pulse was responsible for an increase between 135 and 186 km 2 , and the third event induced an increase between 45 and 88 km 2 the maximum (i.e., Otsu method). The flood-induced increases in the open water area estimated with K-Means Clustering were equal to 300, 156, and 68 km 2 for the first, second, and third flood pulses, respectively.…”

“…Floods are among the most frequent and widespread natural hazards in the world. Being related to intense and/or extreme weather events, they cause great losses in terms of human life and damage to commercial and productive sites, infrastructures, and agriculture [1,2]. Particularly, it has been estimated that floods are responsible for approximately 40% of the total damage caused by natural hazards [3,4].…”

Brief Communication: Analysis of the Fatalities and Socio-Economic Impacts Caused by Hurricane Florence

“…Review of land management policy, flood risk attribution, and structural design requirements can reduce this risk. The aspect of fatality risk and property risk mitigation is further discussed in longitudinal research conducted at the University of Texas at San Antonio and published in the Journal of Geosciences entitled, "Fatalities Caused by Hydrometeorological Disasters in Texas" and "Analysis of Damage Caused by Hydrometeorological Disasters in Texas", respectively [32,33]. It is also important to not overlook the extent of potential long-term illness and death due to disrupted health programs and water and ground contamination.…”

Hydrological Hazard: Analysis and Prevention

“…Among the 13 articles published in the Special Issue, 1 is a Technical Note (Terranova et al [4]), 11 are Research Articles [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], and one is a Case Report (Schmid-Breton et al [16]). Figure 1 compares the geographic distribution of the authors and research teams publishing in the Special Issue (Figure 1a), as well as of the case studies and demonstration sites ( Figure 1b).…”

“…Paul and Sharif [15] tried to verify the assertion that the increase in property damage is a combined contribution of stronger disasters as predicted by climate change models and increases in urban development in risk prone regions such as the Texas Gulf Coast. Within this aim, the study intended to provide a review of historic trends and types of damage and economic losses caused by hydrometeorological disasters impacting the coastal and inland property and infrastructure of Texas from 1960-2016.…”