Observations of Washington State Landscapes, Geology, Geography, Ecology, History and Land Use
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
DEM of non survivable storm surge
To get a sense of the potential inundation of a non survivable storm surge I set the storm surge at 15 feet for the Louisiana-Texas border region on a DEM map. First image is typical shore,second is with 15 feet inundation.
So I wonder if that 15-foot storm surge remains at 15 feet throughout its incursion or does it dissipate as it encounters landforms and buildings. Natural and man-made shore armoring must mitigate the effects of flooding as well, I would think, so that simple elevation models become somewhat misleading when applied to storm surge.
Storm surge is more complicated than the DEM map exercise I did. Probably a bigger issue is river and stream flow backups that can lead to even higher events. The modeling I am familiar with does try to take into account that type of influence. Obstructions can have an additive impact depending on how the water surges inland. This shows up in some of the more sophisticated models with sometimes surprisingly high water levels.
amazing. and as a former realtor, I can guarantee humans have short memories. Won't be long before houses go up again.. Sharyn
ReplyDeleteSo I wonder if that 15-foot storm surge
ReplyDeleteremains at 15 feet throughout its incursion
or does it dissipate as it encounters landforms and buildings.
Natural and man-made shore armoring must mitigate the effects of flooding as well,
I would think,
so that simple elevation models become somewhat misleading when applied to storm surge.
Dave:
ReplyDeleteStorm surge is more complicated than the DEM map exercise I did. Probably a bigger issue is river and stream flow backups that can lead to even higher events. The modeling I am familiar with does try to take into account that type of influence. Obstructions can have an additive impact depending on how the water surges inland. This shows up in some of the more sophisticated models with sometimes surprisingly high water levels.