# 6351
Today is day two of Hurricane Preparedness week, with today’s emphasis on deadly storm surge.
First a short video from the NHC on storm surge, then a visit to their storm surge information page.
Storm Surge Overview
Along the coast, storm surge is often the greatest threat to life and property from a hurricane. In the past, large death tolls have resulted from the rise of the ocean associated with many of the major hurricanes that have made landfall. Hurricane Katrina (2005) is a prime example of the damage and devastation that can be caused by surge. At least 1500 persons lost their lives during Katrina and many of those deaths occurred directly, or indirectly, as a result of storm surge.Storm Surge vs. Storm Tide
Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, over and above the predicted astronomical tides. Storm surge should not be confused with storm tide, which is defined as the water level rise due to the combination of storm surge and the astronomical tide. This rise in water level can cause extreme flooding in coastal areas particularly when storm surge coincides with normal high tide, resulting in storm tides reaching up to 20 feet or more in some cases.
Storm Surge vs. Storm Tide
Last year in Getting SLOSHed For Hurricane Season I wrote about the Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes computer model that emergency planners use to plan for coastal evacuations.
In order to know in advance how far inland a storm surge or tide will encroach, emergency planners run hundreds of SLOSH models for populated regions along the coast.
They vary the size, intensity, direction, and forward speed of hurricanes in the model in order to determine the worst case impact for each category of storm.
Evacuation maps and routes are then generated using this information.
This evacuation map of Pinellas County (St. Petersburg-Clearwater) Florida shows that a storm even as low as a CAT 3 could temporarily cut the southern half of the county off from the north.
Of course much depends upon the speed, direction, and point of landfall of the storm, and so not all CAT 3 storms impacting this area would produce this dramatic of an effect.
But if you are asked to evacuate by your local authorities, don’t hesitate.
Just do it.
Related Post:
- Sandy: Northeast Increasingly Under The Gun
- Isaac Threatens Northern Gulf Coast
- Hurricane Warnings Raised For South Florida
- Remembering Andrew: 20 Years Ago Today
- Update On Isaac
- July Tropical Climatology
- A Highly Uncertain Forecast
- Watching The Gulf Of Mexico This Weekend
- A Matter Of Respect
- Roll Out The Beryl
- Not Exactly A Beryl Of Fun
- The Tale Of The Tape
- Rina: An Uncertain Path For The Weekend
- T.S. Maria: Watches & Warnings Raised
- They Call This Wind Maria
- Irene Takes Aim At The Bahamas
- Sage Advice From The NHC
- Irene Targets Caribbean As Florida Waits
- The Tropics Awaken
- T.S. Emily Threatens Hispaniola, Later Possibly Florida
- August Tropical Climatology
- One On The Way, Another To Watch
- Watching The Tropics
- Arlene: First Tropical Storm of the 2011 Atlantic Season
- Sandy Strengthens Overnight
- The Very Model Of A Natural Disaster
- Resources To Follow The Northeast Storm Online
- Preparing For After The Storm Passes
- Sandy: Northeast Increasingly Under The Gun
- The Limits Of Intensity Forecasting
- Isaac Threatens Northern Gulf Coast
- Hurricane Warnings Raised For South Florida
- Remembering Andrew: 20 Years Ago Today
- Isaac’s Uncertain Future
- Update On Isaac
- Watching The Tropics
- August Tropical Climatology
- July Tropical Climatology
- A Highly Uncertain Forecast
- Watching The Gulf Of Mexico This Weekend
- Hurricane Preparedness Week: Taking Action
- Hurricane Preparedness Week: Inland Flooding
- A Matter Of Respect
- Roll Out The Beryl
- NOAA: `Near Normal’ Hurricane Season Predicted
- It Only Takes One
- The Tale Of The Tape
- Rina: An Uncertain Path For The Weekend
- Safe Rooms: Improving Your Odds
- Do1Thing: A 12 Step Preparedness Program
- Resolve To Be Ready: 2013
- Ready or Not? TFAH Report 2012
- Public Health Practices (PHP) Update
- Black Swan Events
- The Gift of Preparedness 2012
- National Family History Day
- Paper: Are We Prepared For A Pandemic In Low Resource Communities?
- MMWR: Carbon Monoxide Exposures Related To Hurricane Sandy
- Canada: Another West Coast Temblor
- USGS: Eastern Earthquakes - Rare But Powerful
- Unreasonable Expectations
- Shaken, And Hopefully Stirred
- Sandy Strengthens Overnight
- Preparing For After The Storm Passes
- Sandy: Northeast Increasingly Under The Gun
- Reminder: ShakeOut Drills On Oct. 18th
- Dozens Of Ways To Spell `I-L-I’
- NPM12: Because We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Will Bring
- NPM12: One For The Home, And One More For The Road
- NPM12: Those Who Forget Their History . . .
- NPM12: The Ethics Of Preparedness
- NPM12: Disaster Buddies
- IDSA: Pandemic and Seasonal Influenza Preparedness
Widget by [ Iptek-4u ]