Inundation and Destruction on the Bolivar Peninsula During Hurricane Ike

Abstract

Hurricane Ike was one of the most destructive storms in US history, and caused catastrophic damage to the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, with over 4.7m measured surge at the Gulf of Mexico shoreline. This surge began unusually early, reaching 2.5m at 25 hours before landfall while winds were both weak and shore-parallel. The strong forerunner surge resulted from Coriolis effects on the wind-driven alongshelf current, and occurred previously in the similarly destructive 1900 and 1915 Galveston Hurricanes. In onshore areas with strong wave action, damage was near-total to buildings whose flooring systems could be reached by wave crests, while slightly more elevated buildings survived almost unscathed. There was much less of a correlation between survival and elevation in areas with small waves.

Small Building Performance in Hurricane Ike on the Bolivar Peninsula

“…Foundation damage due to shoreline erosion and overland scour was also apparent. Partial structural damage was surprisingly rare (Kennedy, 2010). Building failures and the few cases of partial structural damage appeared to be initiated when wave elevations exceeded the lowest horizontal structural member parallel to the shoreline above the piling foundations.…”

Immediate Impacts of Hurricane Ike on the Texas Coast

“…Immediately before landfall, Prof. Andrew Kennedy (2010) of Notre Dame University deployed nine gauges, which recorded surges and waves offshore at locations shown in Figure 4. Eight of these gauges were recovered and provided excellent data.…”