Hurricane Scour Damage-Natural Hazards
Effect of Scour on Residential Building Damage After Hurricanes
Hurricane Sandy was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the east coast area, which caused severe damage by flooding and strong winds. As a result of the flood, in some areas water has washed-out the soils below the residential homes that were providing foundation to the structures. These scour actions in some areas lead to structural failures.
The goal of this research is to develop a geospatial framework to forecast building scour damage due to storm surge in coastal areas. This is a multi-disciplinary research combining geotechnical engineering and water resources to create a GIS based automated tool combining existing building scour equations, modeled and recorded (by FEMA) storm surge, publicly available soil and building information. Although the framework for this research was established based on specific details and field observations of Hurricane Sandy event in 2012, the methodology developed in the research may be applied to any region for any hurricane surge and soil conditions. The ultimate goal of the research is to develop a tool that can be used for risk assessment and planning, emergency preparedness, implementation of mitigation plans, and to save money and human lives.
