USGS South Carolina Water Projects: ESTABLISHMENT OF A HURRICANE STORM SURGE AND FLOODING NETWORK

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Property damage on Sullivans Island, SC after Hurricane Hugo in September 1989.

SOUTH CAROLINA PROJECTS

Surface Water

Groundwater

Water Quality

ABOUT THE SOUTH CAROLINA WSC

USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

There is a USGS Water Science Center office in each State.

Project Number: 2519-STORM
Project Chief: Andy Caldwell, Paul Conrads
Period of Project: August 2009

Cooperators:

South Carolina Department of Transportation

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A HURRICANE STORM SURGE NETWORK FOR SOUTH CAROLINA

High-water mark left behind by flood waters inside a house.

Preventing flood hazards, such as the hurricane induced storm surge, from becoming human disasters requires an understanding of the relative risks floods pose to specific communities and knowledge of the processes by which flood waters rise, converge, and abate. Such understanding can lead to improvements in the design of levees, dams, bridges, and other infrastructure; aid the delineation of flood-plain boundaries and evacuation routes; and serve as the basis for wise land-use planning.

Metal pipe containing storm surge sensor strapped to a power pole.

The magnitude of hurricane storm surge has historically been measured by using water lines, called high-water marks, left behind by flood waters. Identifying and qualifying high-water marks and determining how well these marks represent the peak are often subjective. The quality of the high-water mark depends upon the type of mark, such as debris, seed, mud, or stain, and on whether the mark was created in a protected environment, such as the interior wall of a building, or in an unprotected environment, such as an exposed bridge piling or fence post. High-water marks do not record the date and time of their creation nor do they record the duration of the storm surge event. In addition, these sources rarely provide useful information about the timing of the inundation, nor do they facilitate reconstruction of the various flow paths by which surge waters penetrate inland areas, or provide information to assess natural or man-made factors, which may affect flooding.

In response to these data needs to better characterize storm-surge events, the USGS designed and developed a storm-surge monitoring approach that utilizes pressure transducers (sensors) to document the timing, extent, and magnitude of hurricane storm surge. The storm-surge network uses remotely located data loggers temporarily attached to bridge piers or other substantial structures that are unlikely to be damaged or destroyed by the rising water. The devices are enclosed inside a steel pipe for protection. Selected sites also include a second data logger that will act as a barometer to correct the water-level data for changes in atmospheric pressure with the passing of the hurricane. The barometric sensors are positioned above the anticipated high-water line. The monitoring approach has been used to measure the storm surge of Hurricanes Rita, Wilma, Hanna, and Ike (McGee and others, 2006; Byrne, M.J., 2006; East and others, 2008; links provided with the references).

The South Carolina Hurricane Storm Surge Network

Map of the 12 storm-surge sensors along the South Carolina Coast

View SC USGS HSSSN in a larger map

The USGS– South Carolina Water Science Center (USGS-SCWSC), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Charleston District (USACE-SAC) and the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), have established an initial hurricane storm-surge monitoring network for South Carolina using similar monitoring techniques as documented in McGee and others (2006). The initial network is composed of twelve sites along the South Carolina Coast. The sites are distributed along the South Carolina Coast and include priority bridge sites of the SCDOT and sites previously monitored for continuous water-levels and/or hurricane storm surge. The network can be increased as future funding becomes available for additional sites.

Storm surge sensor attached to bridge abutment.

Storm surge bracket and sensor housing attached to bridge abutment.

At each site, a permanent bracket for the storm-surge sensors was installed. The bracket is a threaded galvanized flange. The storm-surge sensor housing is a threaded pipe that is screwed into the galvanized flange. Selected sites also include a second data logger that will act as a barometer to correct the water-level data for change in atmospheric pressure. The barometric sensors will be positioned above the anticipated high-water line.

The elevation of the hurricane storm surge sensor bracket was determined after installation by differential surveying of the bracket to a benchmark of known elevation. With the elevation of the bracket known prior to deployment of the water-level sensor, the elevation of the storm surge measured by the sensor will be known as soon as the data are downloaded from the instrument, and there will be minimal delay in disseminating the storm surge elevation data to interested agencies and coastal resource managers.

In addition to water level, some sensors will also collect specific conductance (specific conductance is the field measurement used to compute salinity concentrations). The specific conductance data will provide valuable information on the extent of salinity intrusion and the extent of upland flooding as lower salinity water passes the sensor.

BENEFITS

Property damage on Sullivans Island, SC after Hurricane Hugo in September 1989.

In the United States each year, natural hazards cause hundreds of deaths and costs billions of dollars in disaster aid, disruption of commerce, and destruction of homes and critical infrastructure. Although the number of lives lost to natural hazards each year generally has declined, the economic cost of major disaster response and recovery continues to rise. Each decade, property damage from natural hazards events doubles or triples.

A major goal of the USGS is to reduce the vulnerability of the people and areas most at risk from natural hazards. Working with partners throughout all sectors of society, the USGS provides information, products, and knowledge to help build more resilient communities. The establishment of a South Carolina Hurricane Storm-Surge Monitoring Network will provide data that can be used by scientists, engineers, and emergency preparedness personnel to better understand coastal processes of hurricane storm surge and to address hurricane preparedness.

LINKS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MEASURING HURRICANE STORM SURGE:

http://sc.water.usgs.gov/podcasts/

http://water.usgs.gov/osw/programs/storm_surge.html

REFERENCES

Byrnes, M. J., 2006, Monitoring Hurricane Wilma’s Storm Surge, http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2006/02/ (accessed Feb 24, 2007)

East, J.W., Turco, M.J., and Mason, R.R., Jr., 2008, Monitoring inland storm surge and flooding from Hurricane Ike in Texas and Louisiana, September 2008: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2008–1365, available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1365

McGee, B.D., and others http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3136/

McGee, B.D., Goree, B.B., Tollett, R.W., Woodward, B.K., and Kress, W.H., 2006, Hurricane Rita surge data, southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, September to November 2005: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 220, available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2006/220/.

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