USING HAZUS TO COMPARE STORM SURGE LEVELS OF HURRICANES HUGO, SANDY, AND THE 2013 SC GOVERNORS TABLE TOP STORM SCENARIO TO THE RECENT SLOSH MODELS FOR BERKELEY, CHARLESTON, AND DORCHESTER COUNTIES ALONG THE SOUTH CAROLINA COASTLINE

In 2011 South Carolina completed a new Hurricane Evacuation Study of all the coastal counties. A main part of the study is based on the new NOAA Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model based on the Maximum of Maximum (MOM) output for the South Carolina coastline. SLOSH-MOM datasets do not show the impacts of a single storm, but a combination of every type of hurricane at different strengths and tracks. The results of these models have storm surge inundation reaching as far as 30 – 40 miles inland. This “worst case scenario” of potential impacts has permitted the coastal counties to create hurricane evacuation zones that will help protect citizens by evacuating them from potential storm surge impacts.

Using enhanced LiDAR sets, the Dorchester County Emergency Management together with College of Charleston performed a series of HAZUS hurricane storm surge models. HAZUS MH 2.1surge models use the NOAA SLOSH model is to produce still water elevations estimates for that storm. Additionally are options that allow for running coupled surge and wave analysis using the Delft University SWAN model. These models provide for robust modeling of damage potentials for an incoming storm system. In this study, three storms of varying strengths and landfall locations are compared to the storm surge inundations with the standard SLOSH-MOM models to determine to variability from the NOAA product to the HAZAUS product. These comparisons will provide emergency managers and coastal planner’s better tools for making evacuation decisions and mitigation recommendations for future hurricane events in the Carolinas.