HISTORICAL STORM SURGE TABLES: ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR ALL YOUR STORM SURGE DATA NEEDS

Researchers of hurricane impacts often encounter roadblocks when trying to evaluate storm surge data. Several federal agencies (FEMA, NOAA, Army Corps of Engineers) have unpublished reports for some storms, but not for all. Older hurricanes may have public or private reports. Access to reports is difficult and even for archived storms the data is often sketchy at best. This project is part of a storm-surge database under construction by the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines. The goal is to assemble in one place all available data on historical storm surge, published or unpublished. Information gathered for each hurricane include dates, strength at landfall on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, approach time of day, latitude/longitude of approach, approach angle with the shoreline, approach speed, state/states affected, nearest major city, pressure at landfall, wind speed at landfall, tides, high water level (actual measurement, date measured, maximum water level above predicted water), maximum storm surge, description of height (how measurement was made), where the data was cited, and the source of the data. Storm surge measurement data points have been evaluated for quality, methodology, and usefulness for scientific inquiry.

It is hoped that the database will provide the basis for statistical evaluation of the various factors impacting coastal storm surge. In addition, it will be a critical resource for numerical modelers who are in need of such data for model calibration and verification of predictive coastal flooding models. So far, data from southeastern U.S.A. hurricane back to 1960 have been tabulated. However, data from 1965 and back are very hard to find out and a N/A placed in the database until data is obtained. As part of an on-going project, the scope of the database will continue to expand to include older hurricanes and a broader geographic area of coverage.