The threat has prompted the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to roll out for the first time its experimental storm surge maps, in an effort to help coastal residents better appreciate the dangers of such a sudden influx of water.
As Hurricane Sandy made clear, the damage caused by tropical cyclones, the generic term for tropical storms, hurricanes and typhoons, comes largely from their storm surge, not their winds. After several storms that produced large storm surges and wreaked havoc on coastal areas — particularly Hurricane Ike, which hit Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 13, 2008 — made it clear that these surges were an underappreciated threat by the public, the NHC developed maps that would show exactly how a given storm’s surge was expected to affect a particular area.
Storm surge has also become an increasing threat as coastal populations have climbed and global warming has caused sea levels to rise.
In determining how much areas might flood, mappers take into account a storm’s size, its intensity and its expected path. The maps also factor in the topography of the potentially inundated area and the astronomical tides. They show the expected levels of flooding on a color-coded scale that denotes how much water will rise above ground level.
New Storm Surge Maps Debut with Tropical Storm Arthur
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