Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Storm Surge Atlases Presentation, description, data Horace H. P. Burton and Selvin DeC. Burton Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Storm Surge Atlas - Contents Atlas contains maps of MEOWs of various combinations of storm direction, forward speed, and intensity for the islands of the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean.

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Map Features Each map depicts maximum surge likely during the passage of a tropical cyclone of specific intensity, moving at given speed, from given direction and within a specified distance of the particular island Maps are colour shaded with legend indicating the range of values assigned to each colour

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Map Features Added to each map is a country outline obtained from the base topography/bathymetric data of the TAOS model. Storm surge heights above mean sea-level are shown at intervals of 0.25 m up to 2 m and at intervals of 0.5 m for higher values Actual water on land is obtained by subtracting the land elevation from the surge estimate

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Input Data Tracks and speeds - regional climatology Intensities - Saffir-Simpson scale Lateral distance - typical horizontal extent of hurricane force winds Radius of maximum winds - observations

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Parameters

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Map scale The surge height represents the value over some finite distance determined by the model - 1 km This value is sufficiently large to be used by decision makers in planning and disaster management

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Uses Determine level of risk and relative vulnerability of specific areas on basis of intensity and track Determine vulnerability of existing facilities - important for type and urgency of actions Determine areas susceptible to coastal and inland flooding from storm surge Understanding characteristics of storm surge

Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology Limitations Cannot be uses for individual parcel analysis In present form cannot be used to determine directly the extent of coastal flood zone - absence of topography Lack of detailed coastal outline may have an affect on surge heights in smaller bays Possible uses far outweigh limitations