scholarly journals IMMEDIATE IMPACTS OF HURRICANE IKE ON THE TEXAS COAST

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (32) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Billy L Edge ◽  
Lesley Ewing ◽  
Robert G Dean ◽  
James M Kaihatu ◽  
Margery F Overton ◽  
...  

Hurricane Ike was a large storm as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico. When it entered into Texas it caused a storm surge of up to 4 m and substantial waves with high winds represented by a Category 2 hurricane. The storm caused extensive flooding and erosion which led to significant property damage on Boliver Peninsula and on Galveston Island. COPRI (Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute) of the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) sponsored a team of engineers and scientists to observe the coast and collect perishable data approximately one month after the storm. One of the main conclusions from the inspection of buildings was that elevation was a key determinant for survival. Members of the team returned for another visit approximately one year later to observe how the recovery had progressed. Those observations show some redevelopment but also some serious flaws in the coastal management implementation.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Hodge

<p>Coastal marshes along the northern Gulf of Mexico coastline provide very important ecosystem services such as serving as habitat for a variety of flora and fauna and providing flood protection for inland areas. A growing body of research has documented how hurricane storm surge sedimentation has increased the elevation of coastal marshes along the northern Gulf of Mexico coastline. This study investigates spatial variations in sediment distribution on McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Texas, USA, which is in the geographic region that was impacted by the right-front quadrant of Hurricane Ike. This research builds upon a prior study on hurricane storm surge sedimentation in which the sediment deposits from hurricanes’ Audrey, Carla, Rita, and Ike were identified on a marsh transect on McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge. The purpose of this study was to discover how hurricane storm surge sedimentation spatially varies in relation to the landfall location of Hurricane Ike. Fieldwork conducted in 2017-2018 involved digging shallow pits on four coastal marsh transects between Sabine Pass, Texas and High Island, Texas. Elevations were measured at each pit site along all four transects using a telescopic lens and stadia rod. The transects extend 880-1630 meters, with pit sites beginning near the coastline and extending landward. Results obtained in the field indicate that the Hurricane Ike sediment deposit has been found on all four transects, and that the deposit decreases in thickness moving landward along each transect. Furthermore, the observational results of this study were used in Regression Analyses to model hurricane storm surge sediment deposit thickness based on pit site distance inland, pit site elevation, and distance from the landfall of Hurricane Ike. Moreover, Analysis of Variance revealed whether distance inland, distance from landfall location, and the interaction between distance inland and distance from landfall location had any significant effect on storm surge deposit thickness. Actual sediment deposit thicknesses measured in the field were compared to the Regression and Analysis of Variance results. Results show that the Power Law Curve from the Regression Analyses was the most robust predictor of pit site sediment thickness based on distance inland, with an R<sup>2</sup> value of 0.538. Additionally, the Regression and Analysis of Variance results revealed that transect distance from the landfall location of Hurricane Ike was the only independent variable that could not predict or explain storm surge deposit thickness; which is very likely due to all four transects being in the right-front quadrant of landfalling Hurricane Ike. The findings of this study provide improved understanding of the spatial relationship between storm surge sedimentation and storm surge heights, valuable knowledge about the sedimentary response of coastal marshes subject to storm surge deposition, and useful guidance to public policy aimed at combating the effects of sea-level rise on coastal marshes along the northern Gulf of Mexico coastline.</p><p> </p>


1980 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.J. Bourgeois ◽  
M.V. Adams ◽  
R.J. Melancon ◽  
G.D. Rhodes ◽  
W.P. Penney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 51-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Knoester ◽  
J Visser ◽  
B A Bannink ◽  
C J Colijn ◽  
W P A Broeders

In the planning of the Delta-works, carried out in the Southwestern Netherlands, the Eastern Scheldt was the largest and therefore last tidal basin to be fully closed mainly to protect the area from floods. Increased recognition for the natural value of estuaries and a strong lobby from nature conservationists and shellfish producers led to a reconsideration of original plans, confirmed by a series of governmental decisions. Per consequence execution of the present plans will result in a storm-surge barrier at the entrance of the tidal basin together with two partitioning dams, separating the (reduced) tidal Eastern Scheldt from a new freshwater lake. Attention is paid to the present values in the Eastern Scheldt and briefly to changes involved by the project. The decisionmaking process is described and discussed: In the course of the project the majority of decisions taken were prepared by teams of ecologists, civil engineers, hydrologists and financial experts using policy-analysis methods. For guidance of developments in the influenced area the local government accepted a policy plan, in which human uses are regulated. Operations of the barrier are designed such that safety from flooding is guaranteed, while adverse effects for the tidal ecosystems are minimized.


2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel D. Brody ◽  
Joshua Gunn ◽  
Walter Peacock ◽  
Wesley E. Highfield

The rising cost of floods is increasingly attributed to the pattern and form of the built environment. Our study empirically tests this notion by examining the relationship between development intensity and property damage caused by floods. We examine five years of insured flood loss claims across 144 counties and parishes fringing the Gulf of Mexico. Results indicate that clustered, high-intensity development patterns significantly reduce amounts of reported property damage, while increasing percentages of sprawling, low-intensity development involving recent conversion of open space greatly exacerbate flood losses. These findings demonstrate the importance of community development design in fostering flood-resilient communities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (8) ◽  
pp. 2488-2522 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Dietrich ◽  
J. J. Westerink ◽  
A. B. Kennedy ◽  
J. M. Smith ◽  
R. E. Jensen ◽  
...  

AbstractHurricane Gustav (2008) made landfall in southern Louisiana on 1 September 2008 with its eye never closer than 75 km to New Orleans, but its waves and storm surge threatened to flood the city. Easterly tropical-storm-strength winds impacted the region east of the Mississippi River for 12–15 h, allowing for early surge to develop up to 3.5 m there and enter the river and the city’s navigation canals. During landfall, winds shifted from easterly to southerly, resulting in late surge development and propagation over more than 70 km of marshes on the river’s west bank, over more than 40 km of Caernarvon marsh on the east bank, and into Lake Pontchartrain to the north. Wind waves with estimated significant heights of 15 m developed in the deep Gulf of Mexico but were reduced in size once they reached the continental shelf. The barrier islands further dissipated the waves, and locally generated seas existed behind these effective breaking zones.The hardening and innovative deployment of gauges since Hurricane Katrina (2005) resulted in a wealth of measured data for Gustav. A total of 39 wind wave time histories, 362 water level time histories, and 82 high water marks were available to describe the event. Computational models—including a structured-mesh deepwater wave model (WAM) and a nearshore steady-state wave (STWAVE) model, as well as an unstructured-mesh “simulating waves nearshore” (SWAN) wave model and an advanced circulation (ADCIRC) model—resolve the region with unprecedented levels of detail, with an unstructured mesh spacing of 100–200 m in the wave-breaking zones and 20–50 m in the small-scale channels. Data-assimilated winds were applied using NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division Wind Analysis System (H*Wind) and Interactive Objective Kinematic Analysis (IOKA) procedures. Wave and surge computations from these models are validated comprehensively at the measurement locations ranging from the deep Gulf of Mexico and along the coast to the rivers and floodplains of southern Louisiana and are described and quantified within the context of the evolution of the storm.


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