Rigorously Valuing the Impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria on Coastal Hazard Risk in Florida and Puerto Rico
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- Document: Report (7 MB pdf)
- Related Works:
- Open-File Report 2021-1054 - Rigorously Valuing the Potential Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction Provided by Coral Reef Restoration in Florida and Puerto Rico
- Open-File Report 2021-1055 - Rigorously Valuing the Impact of Projected Coral Reef Degradation on Coastal Hazard Risk in Florida
- Data Release: Data Release - Projected flooding extents and depths based on 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year wave-energy return periods for the State of Florida and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico before and after Hurricanes Irma and Maria due to the storms' damage to the coral reefs
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
The degradation of coastal habitats, particularly coral reefs, raises risks by increasing the exposure of coastal communities to flooding hazards. In the United States, the physical protective services provided by coral reefs were recently assessed in social and economic terms, with the annual protection provided by U.S. coral reefs off the coasts of the State of Florida and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico estimated to be more than 9,800 people and $859 million (2010 U.S. dollars). Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 caused widespread damage to coral reefs in the State of Florida and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. These damages were measured in post-storm surveys of reefs and assessed in terms of their impact on reef condition and height, which are critical parameters for evaluating the coastal defense benefits of reefs. We combined engineering, ecologic, geospatial, social, and economic data and tools to value the increased risks in Florida and Puerto Rico from hurricane-induced damages to their adjacent coral reefs. We followed risk-based valuation approaches to map flooding at 10-square-meter resolution along all 980 kilometers of Florida and Puerto Rico’s reef-lined shorelines considering reef condition before (undamaged) and after (damaged) the 2017 hurricanes. We quantified the coastal flood risk increase caused by the hurricane-induced damage to the coral reefs using the latest information from the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Bureau of Economic Analysis for return-interval storm events. Using the damages associated with each storm probability, we also calculated the change in annual expected damages, a measure of the annual protection lost because of the reef damage caused by the 2017 hurricanes. We found that the damages to the coral reefs off Florida and Puerto Rico from Hurricanes Irma and Maria increased future risks significantly. In particular, we estimated the protection lost by Florida and Puerto Rico’s coral reefs from the 2017 hurricanes to result in:
- Increased flooding to more than 10.72 square kilometers (4.14 square miles) of land annually;
- Increased flooding affecting more than 4,300 people annually;
- Increased direct damages of more than $57.2 million to more than 1,800 buildings annually; and
- Increased indirect damages to more $124.3 million in economic activity owing to housing and business damage annually.
Thus, the annual value of increased flood risk caused by the damage to Florida and Puerto Rico’s coral reefs from hurricanes in 2017 is more than 4,300 people and $181.5 mil-lion (2010 U.S. dollars) in economic impacts. These data provide stakeholders and decision makers with a spatially explicit, rigorous valuation of how, where, and when the damage from the 2017 hurricanes decreased critical coastal storm flood reduction benefits to Florida and Puerto Rico’s coral reefs. These results help identify areas where reef management, recovery, and restoration could potentially help reduce the risk to, and increase the resiliency of, Florida and Puerto Rico’s coastal communities.
Suggested Citation
Storlazzi, C.D., Reguero, B.G., Viehman, T.S., Cumming, K.A., Cole, A.D., Shope, J.B., Groves, S.H., Gaido L., C., Nickel, B.A., and Beck, M.W., 2021, Rigorously valuing the impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria on coastal hazard risks in Florida and Puerto Rico: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2021–1056, 29 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20211056.
ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)
Study Area
Table of Contents
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Methodology
- Results
- Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- References Cited
- Additional Digital Information
- Direct Contact Information
- Appendix 1. SWAN Model Settings
- Appendix 2. SWAN Model Grid Information
- Appendix 3. Benthic Habitat and Shoreline Datasets
- Appendix 4. Cross-shore XBeach Transects
- Appendix 5. Bathymetric Datasets
- Appendix 6. XBeach Model Settings
| Publication type | Report |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
| Title | Rigorously valuing the impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria on coastal hazard risks in Florida and Puerto Rico |
| Series title | Open-File Report |
| Series number | 2021-1056 |
| DOI | 10.3133/ofr20211056 |
| Year Published | 2021 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | U.S. Geological Survey |
| Publisher location | Reston, VA |
| Contributing office(s) | Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center |
| Description | Report: v, 29 p.; Data Release |
| Country | United States |
| State | Florida |
| Other Geospatial | Puerto Rico |
| Online Only (Y/N) | Y |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |