Characterizing the hydraulic interactions of hurricane storm surge and rainfall–runoff for the Houston–Galveston region

Torres, Jacob M.; Bass, Benjamin; Irza, N.; Fang, Zheng; Proft, Jennifer; Dawson, Clint; Kiani, Morteza; Bedient, Philip B.

doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2015.09.004

Cited by 64 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(19 reference statements)

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“…The analysis herein focuses on extreme precipitation as the primary cause of flooding. We do not consider the backwater effects of elevated water levels due to storm surge or relative sea level rise in Galveston Bay on the ability of the system to drain, but previous studies have suggested that this may be an important factor in determining the intensity and extent of coastal flooding (Torres et al 2015, Sebastian et al 2017. In addition, we acknowledge that other anthropogenic factors have contributed to increased flood risk in Houston, specifically urban development, which has led to floodplain encroachment, increased impervious cover, reduced overland and channel roughness, decreased storage capacity (Brody et al 2008(Brody et al , 2011, and resource withdrawal that has led to subsidence of up to 3 m (10 ft) (http://hgsubsidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attribution of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

Oldenborgh

Wiel

Sebastian

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

383

229

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In the computation of the EC-Earth results, we accidentally included all grid boxes and not only the land points as we intended. We redid the calculations using the land points only. This implies an update to figure 6 (given below), but it makes only a slight differences to the EC-Earth results. The comparison with the observed fit for the model evaluation is somewhat better in the dispersion parameter / and now good in the shape parameter, although the model now requires a bias correction of 18%. The increase in intensity for land points only is ΔI = 17% (11% ... 23%), compared to the ΔI = 17% (10% ... 23%) for all points. The risk ratio is a bit higher, 2.5 (1.8 ... 6.7) instead of the 2.2 (1.5 ... 4.1) reported in the article. Updated synthesis and conclusionsThis changes figure 7 slightly as well, but does not affect the conclusions. The change in increase remains 15% with an uncertainty range 8%-19%. The change in risk ratio stays the same, a factor of three, but with a slightly higher uncertainty range, 1.6-6 rather than 1.5-5. This strengthens our conclusions by a negligible factor.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attribution of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

Oldenborgh

Wiel

Sebastian

et al. 2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

383

229

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Extreme water levels resulting from a combination of stormtide flooding and riverine flooding are also known as coincident or compound flood events (IPCC, 2014;. For some time the two flooding drivers involved were treated independently in coastal flood risk assessments (Torres et al, 2015), even though joint-probability analysis highlighted significant dependence between extreme rainfall and extreme storm surges Jones, 2004, 2006;Zheng et al, 2013Zheng et al, , 2014. Therefore studies such as those of Jones (2004, 2006) have suggested taking both processes into account for flood risk estimations in coastal areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating compound flooding in an estuary using hydrodynamic modelling: a case study from the Shoalhaven River, Australia

Kumbier

Carvalho

Vafeidis

et al. 2018

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

120

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Abstract. Many previous modelling studies have considered storm-tide and riverine flooding independently, even though joint-probability analysis highlighted significant dependence between extreme rainfall and extreme storm surges in estuarine environments. This study investigates compound flooding by quantifying horizontal and vertical differences in coastal flood risk estimates resulting from a separation of storm-tide and riverine flooding processes. We used an open-source version of the Delft3D model to simulate flood extent and inundation depth due to a storm event that occurred in June 2016 in the Shoalhaven Estuary, south-eastern Australia. Time series of observed water levels and discharge measurements are used to force model boundaries, whereas observational data such as satellite imagery, aerial photographs, tidal gauges and water level logger measurements are used to validate modelling results. The comparison of simulation results including and excluding riverine discharge demonstrated large differences in modelled flood extents and inundation depths. A flood risk assessment accounting only for storm-tide flooding would have underestimated the flood extent of the June 2016 storm event by 30 % (20.5 km 2 ). Furthermore, inundation depths would have been underestimated on average by 0.34 m and by up to 1.5 m locally. We recommend considering storm-tide and riverine flooding processes jointly in estuaries with large catchment areas, which are known to have a quick response time to extreme rainfall. In addition, comparison of different boundary set-ups at the intermittent entrance in Shoalhaven Heads indicated that a permanent opening, in order to reduce exposure to riverine flooding, would increase tidal range and exposure to both storm-tide flooding and wave action.

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“…The examples of the hurricanes given above show that the compound flooding can cause significant damage. Recent studies by several researchers [13][14][15][16] have shown the impacts of rainfall-runoff on coastal flooding. Furthermore, Yang et al [17] demonstrated the significant impact combined flooding can have on the timing and spatial location of evacuation orders given during hurricane events.…”

Section: Background and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Steps towards Modeling Community Resilience under Climate Change: Hazard Model Development

Dresback

Szpilka

Xue

et al. 2019

JMSE

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With a growing population (over 40%) living in coastal counties within the U.S., there is an increasing risk that coastal communities will be significantly impacted by riverine/coastal flooding and high winds associated with tropical cyclones. Climate change could exacerbate these risks; thus, it would be prudent for coastal communities to plan for resilience in the face of these uncertainties. In order to address all of these risks, a coupled physics-based modeling system has been developed that simulates total water levels. This system uses parametric models for both rainfall and wind, which only require essential information (e.g., track and central pressure) generated by a hurricane model. The system is validated with Hurricane Isabel hindcasts: One using the parametric system and another using data assimilated fields. The results show a good agreement to the available data, indicating that the system is able to adequately capture the hazards using parametric models, as compared to optimized fields. The validated system was then utilized to simulate randomly generated scenarios that account for future uncertainty, i.e., amount of sea level rise and storm strength/track, as influenced by projected climate change scenarios. Results are then used in next step in the development of a system-wide, community resilience model. with the Houston area experiencing approximately 36 to 48 inches total during the storm. As well, some of the cities along the Texas/Louisiana border received over 60 inches. All of the rain caused many of the rivers within the Houston metro areas to exceed their banks and lead to record flood stages on Clear Creek, Dickinson Bayou, Buffalo Bayou and Cypress Creek [1].Hurricane Irma followed Hurricane Harvey by a couple of weeks and made landfall in Florida. Similar to Harvey, Irma produced damages that were caused by wind and flooding due to both storm surge and rainfall. Irma affected the Florida Keys most significantly with almost 25% of the buildings on the Keys destroyed during the storm and almost 90% of the structures sustaining damage [2]. Throughout several counties of Florida, Irma destroyed structures and caused significant power failures. Furthermore, the storm had a devastating effect on the agricultural crops, e.g., it was estimated that approximately $760 million in damage was done to the orange groves in the southwestern and central parts of Florida [2]. Heavy rainfall occurred as Irma moved into the northern portions of Florida leading to significant flooding with rivers reaching, and some exceeding, previously recorded flood stages in nine different counties: Bradford, Clay, Marion, Flagler, Duval, Putnam, St. Johns, Nassau and Alachua [2].Hurricane Maria was the most devastating hurricane to make landfall on any of the Caribbean islands in almost 80 years. Reports from the island nation of Dominica indicated that a majority of the structures on the island were either seriously damaged or destroyed as a result of the storm. In fact, Pasch et al. [3] indicated that the Prime M...

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Characterizing the hydraulic interactions of hurricane storm surge and rainfall–runoff for the Houston–Galveston region

Cited by 64 publications

References 15 publications

Attribution of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

Attribution of extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey, August 2017

Investigating compound flooding in an estuary using hydrodynamic modelling: a case study from the Shoalhaven River, Australia

Steps towards Modeling Community Resilience under Climate Change: Hazard Model Development

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