Mere Nuisance or Growing Threat? The Physical and Economic Impact of High Tide Flooding on US Road Networks

Fant, Charles; Jacobs, Jennifer M.; Chinowsky, Paul S.; Sweet, William; Weiss, Natalie; Sias, Jo E.; Martinich, Jeremy; Neumann, James E.

doi:10.1061/(asce)is.1943-555x.0000652

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…(2021). While not as extreme as other floods, these minor floods have been associated with economic losses in the United States (Fant et al., 2021; Hauer et al., 2021; Hino et al., 2019; Kasmalkar et al., 2020). Across northern Australia, Hague et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australian Coastal Flooding Trends and Forcing Factors

et al. 2022

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Australian Coastal Flooding Trends and Forcing Factors

et al. 2022

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“…Extreme water levels have been used to examine the direct and indirect impacts of coastal floods on transportation systems and assess the susceptibility of the network to flood‐induced failure (Fant et al., 2021; Habel et al., 2020; Jacobs et al., 2018; Pezza & White, 2021). Annual exceedance probabilities and average recurrence intervals are commonly applied for infrastructure design and assessment of flood risk (Apel et al., 2004, 2006; Hackl et al., 2018; Haigh et al., 2014; Sweet & Park, 2014; Vitousek et al., 2017; Wahl et al., 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To provide meaningful comparisons among the broad geospatial distribution of barriers in our sample, we recast all node (intersection) elevations to local annual exceedance probabilities of extreme water events. Extreme water levels have been used to examine the direct and indirect impacts of coastal floods on transportation systems and assess the susceptibility of the network to flood-induced failure (Fant et al, 2021;Habel et al, 2020;Jacobs et al, 2018;Pezza & White, 2021). Annual exceedance probabilities and average recurrence intervals are commonly applied for infrastructure design and assessment of flood risk (Apel et al, 2004(Apel et al, , 2006Hackl et al, 2018;Haigh et al, 2014;Vitousek et al, 2017;Wahl et al, 2017).…”

Section: Extreme Water Levelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the US, road networks tend to be the principal way in which people and goods reach and move within developed barrier islands, and are vital to hazard evacuation, emergency response, and recovery operations during and after catastrophic storms (Anarde et al., 2018; Darestani et al., 2021; Frazier et al., 2013; Godschalk et al., 1989; Velasquez‐Montoya et al., 2021). Road network disruptions—mechanisms that cause reductions in mobility or increases in the costs necessary to maintain the desired levels of mobility (Markolf et al., 2019)—are common on barrier islands during hurricanes, tropical storms, and nor'easters (Dolan & Lins, 2000; Hardin et al., 2012; Krynock et al., 2005; Nordstrom, 2004; Nordstrom & Jackson, 1995; Spanger‐Siegfried et al., 2014; Velasquez‐Montoya et al., 2021), and also occur as a result of king tides, sea‐level anomalies, groundwater flooding, or other factors that lead to nuisance or “sunny day” flooding (Fant et al., 2021; Hino et al., 2019; Housego et al., 2021; Jacobs et al., 2018; Moftakhari et al., 2018, 2015, 2017; Praharaj et al., 2021). Road disruptions can lead to major socio‐economic impacts, isolating neighborhoods, compromising evacuation, and preventing people from accessing critical services (Balomenos et al., 2019; Dong, Esmalian, et al., 2020; Jenelius & Mattson, 2012; Spanger‐Siegfried et al., 2014; Suarez et al., 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thresholds in Road Network Functioning on US Atlantic and Gulf Barrier Islands

2022

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Barrier islands predominate the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines of the USA, where population and infrastructure growth exceed national trends. Forward‐looking models of barrier island dynamics often include feedbacks with real estate markets and management practices aimed at mitigating damage to buildings from natural hazards. However, such models thus far do not account for networks of infrastructure, such as roads, and how the functioning of infrastructure networks might influence management strategies. Understanding infrastructure networks on barrier islands is an essential step toward improved insight into the future dynamics of human‐altered barriers. Here, we examine thresholds in the functioning of 72 US Atlantic and Gulf Coast barrier islands. We use digital elevation models to assign an elevation to each intersection in each road network. From each road network we sequentially remove intersections, starting from the lowest elevation. We use the maxima of the second giant connected component to identify a specific intersection—and corresponding elevation—at which functioning of the network fails, and we match the elevation of each critical intersection to local annual exceedance probabilities for extreme high‐water levels. We find a range of failure thresholds for barrier island road network functioning, and also find that no single metric—absolute elevation, annual exceedance probability, or a quantitative metric of robustness—sufficiently ranks the susceptibility of barrier road networks to failure. Future work can incorporate thresholds for road network into forward‐looking models of barrier island dynamics that include hazard‐mitigation practices for protecting infrastructure.

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“…Dynamics in tides reflect the joint impacts of coastal processes and anthropogenic pressures on salt-fresh water mixture, circulation, sedimentation, nutrient transport, and primary productivity (Dieckmann et al, 1987;Mao et al, 2004;Bouillon et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2021a). For example, high tide is often associated with flooding and tidal asymmetry, which causes traffic problems and damage to low-lying infrastructure (Dronkers, 1986;Cherqui et al, 2015;Nabangchang et al, 2015;Fant et al, 2021). Tidal range and current have been identified as the predominant factors controlling the transport of suspended particulate matters, ultimately changing subsidence dynamics and primary productivity distributions in flat tidal zones (Dieckmann et al, 1987;Fitzgerald, 1996;Raw et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of river discharge, coastal geomorphology, and regional sea level rise on tidal dynamics in Pearl River Estuary

Cai

Liu

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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IntroductionRecently, accelerated sea-level rise (SLR) has raised major concerns on estuarine management and restoration because it modifies estuarine hydrodynamics, such as tidal inundation extent and amplitude, tidal current asymmetry, flood frequency, etc. Understanding underlying processes which regulate estuarine tidal dynamics is critical for mitigating potential impacts on the coastal population and development.MethodsWe selected the Pearl River Estuary (PRE), an estuary with a higher regional SLR compared to the global SLR as the study area. To identify the effects of regional SLR on tidal dynamics, we analyzed long-term records of four tidal variables from 19 gauge stations between 1952 and 2020, including annual highest tidal levels (AHTLs), annual lowest tidal levels (ALTLs), annual mean tidal ranges (AMTRs), and annual mean tidal levels (AMTLs).ResultsResults suggested that variability in tidal variables was site-specific. The AMTRs decreased gradually from offshore regions to the upper reaches of rivers with a maximum at the mouth of the estuary. In contrast, the magnitudes of the AHTLs, AMTLs, and ALTLs decreased when approaching the coastline. Distance to the coastline had the highest correlations with the AHTLs, ALTLs, and AMTLs, followed by river width and river depth. The local SLR was responsible for the temporal variability in AHTLs, ALTLs, and AMTLs at the estuarine mouth with correlation coefficients from 0.43 to 0.85 (P < 0.001) but showed low correlations with these three tidal variables at the upper reaches of rivers (P > 0.001). Instead, the tidal variables were highly correlated with river discharge at the upper reaches of rivers, especially for the AHTLs (correlation coefficient = 0.83, P < 0.0001).ConclusionsOur study demonstrated that the tidal dynamics demonstrate significant spatial-temporal variability. Geomorphology, river discharge, and sea levels have jointly affected estuarine hydrodynamics.

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Mere Nuisance or Growing Threat? The Physical and Economic Impact of High Tide Flooding on US Road Networks

Cited by 23 publications

References 45 publications

Australian Coastal Flooding Trends and Forcing Factors

Australian Coastal Flooding Trends and Forcing Factors

Thresholds in Road Network Functioning on US Atlantic and Gulf Barrier Islands

Impacts of river discharge, coastal geomorphology, and regional sea level rise on tidal dynamics in Pearl River Estuary

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