Rapid Damage Assessments of Shorelines and Structures in the Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma

Tomiczek, Tori; O’Donnell, Kiera; Furman, Kelsi L.; Webbmartin, Brittany; Scyphers, Steven B.

doi:10.1061/(asce)nh.1527-6996.0000349

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Using statistical regressions, the authors found that villages shielded by mangroves with wider cross-shore forest thicknesses between the village and the coast experienced significantly fewer deaths than villages with no or few mangroves. Mangroves were observed reducing water levels during Hurricane Charley and Wilma along coastal Florida (Krauss et al 2009), andTomiczek et al (2020a) surveyed damage to structures and shorelines in the Florida Keys following Hurricane Irma (2017). The structures sheltered by moderate widths of mangrove shoreline consistently experienced more minor damage than neighboring structures with other shoreline archetypes.…”

Section: Post-disaster Observations and Modeling Of Mangrove Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, mangrove forests have been observed to provide significant protection during storm and tsunami events (e.g., Krauss et al 2009;Alongi 2008;Das and Vincent 2009;Goda et al 2019;Tomiczek et al 2020a), mitigating inland water levels, wave heights, and damage to near-coast structures. However, the engineering performance of mangrove systems must be quantified to develop reliable design guidance for successful implementation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, many developed areas require adequate coastal protection in a confined cross-shore area. While several studies have suggested that moderate cross-shore forest thicknesses can provide noticeable protection(Goda et al 2019;Tomiczek et al 2020a), a better understanding of the required width of a mangrove forest with a given density is needed to implement these systems in coastal design effectively.Finally, an innovative study conducted in collaboration with University of California Santa Cruz, Risk Management Solutions, and The Nature Conservancy used an insurance industry catastrophe model to quantify the economic benefits of mangroves in Florida for reducing coastal flood damages annually in Collier County, FL, and from Hurricane Irma. Annually, across multiple storms, mangroves reduced flood damages by 25.5% to properties behind them in Collier County.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Engineering With Nature : the role of mangroves in coastal protection

Tomiczek¹,

Wargula²,

Hurst³

et al. 2021

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Section: Post-disaster Observations and Modeling Of Mangrove Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Engineering With Nature : the role of mangroves in coastal protection

Tomiczek¹,

Wargula²,

Hurst³

et al. 2021

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“…As coastal communities search for effective, resilient adaptation strategies to coastal hazards including sea level rise, erosion, and storm-driven wave and surge events, natural and naturebased systems have gained attention for their ecological, social, and engineering benefits. In particular, emergent vegetation such as mangroves in subtropical and tropical regions have been lauded for their ability to sequester carbon (Alongi, 2008), improve water quality (Struve and Falconer, 2001;Wang et al, 2010), provide habitat for shorebirds, juvenile fish, and other species (Odum et al, 1982;USFWS, 1999), supply resources and opportunities for recreation and tourism (Situmorang, 2018;Spalding and Parrett, 2019), and provide engineering services including shoreline stabilization (Pennings et al, 2021), wave attenuation (Mazda et al, 1997a(Mazda et al, , 2006Kibler et al, 2019) and damage mitigation during tsunami or tropical cyclone events (Danielsen et al, 2005;Das and Vincent, 2009;Krauss et al, 2009;Goda et al, 2019;Tomiczek et al, 2020a;Zhu et al, 2020). Observations of these services have led to an exponential increase in interest in natural and nature-based solutions in academic publications (UNDRR, 2021) and have engendered national and global initiatives for integrating natural and nature-based systems into conventional infrastructure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prototype-Scale Physical Model of Wave Attenuation Through a Mangrove Forest of Moderate Cross-Shore Thickness: LiDAR-Based Characterization and Reynolds Scaling for Engineering With Nature

et al. 2022

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This study investigates the potential of a Rhizophora mangrove forest of moderate cross-shore thickness to attenuate wave heights using an idealized prototype-scale physical model constructed in a 104 m long wave flume. An 18 m long cross-shore transect of an idealized red mangrove forest based on the trunk-prop root system was constructed in the flume. Two cases with forest densities of 0.75 and 0.375 stems/m2 and a third baseline case with no mangroves were considered. LiDAR was used to quantify the projected area per unit height and to estimate the effective diameter of the system. The methodology was accurate to within 2% of the known stem diameters and 10% of the known prop root diameters. Random and regular wave conditions seaward, throughout, and inland of the forest were measured to determine wave height decay rates and drag coefficients for relative water depths ranging 0.36 to 1.44. Wave height decay rates ranged 0.008–0.021 m–1 for the high-density cases and 0.004–0.010 m–1 for the low-density cases and were found to be a function of water depth. Doubling the forest density increased the decay rate by a factor two, consistent with previous studies for other types of emergent vegetation. Drag coefficients ranged 0.4–3.8, and were found to be dependent on the Reynolds number. Uncertainty in the estimates of the drag coefficient due to the measured projected area and measured wave attenuation was quantified and found to have average combined standard deviations of 0.58 and 0.56 for random and regular waves, respectively. Two previous reduced-scale studies of wave attenuation by mangroves compared well with the present study when their Reynolds numbers were re-scaled by λ3/2 where λ is the prototype-to-model geometric scale ratio. Using the combined data sets, an equation is proposed to estimate the drag coefficient for a Rhizophora mangrove forest: CD = 0.6 + 3e04/ReDBH with an uncertainty of 0.69 over the range 5e03 < ReDBH < 1.9e05, where ReDBH is based on the tree diameter at breast height. These results may improve engineering guidance for the use of mangroves and other emergent vegetation in coastal wave attenuation.

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“…Previous studies have found that implementing NBS can buffer coastal areas during storms due to their wave attenuating properties, increased flood storage capacity, and ability to retain sediment (Quartel et al, 2007;Mcivor et al, 2012;Hashim and Catherine 2013;Guannel et al, 2016;Munoz et al, 2018). For instance, previous studies covering the impacts caused by Hurricane Irma show that in residential areas of high inundation, homes with mangrove shorelines experienced less damage than homes with bulkheads, and beaches (Tomiczek et al, 2020). Mangroves provide coastal communities with storm protective properties due to their complex and dense network of roots (Davis and Fitzgerald, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resident Perceptions and Parcel-Level Performance Outcomes of Mangroves, Beaches, and Hardened Shorelines After Hurricane Irma in the Lower Florida Keys

O’Donnell

Tomiczek

Scyphers

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Hurricanes have large and lasting effects along coastlines, representing one of the deadliest and costliest natural hazards. Among the rapidly growing literature on the impacts of hurricanes, an increasing topic of interest is the potential role of mangroves, and other coastal habitats, as nature-based strategies (NBS) for coastal defense. In addition to coastal protection, NBS have been shown to provide many ecological, economic, and social co-benefits. However, few studies have assessed coastal resident perceptions or residential-scale performance of NBS, particularly in the wake of major hurricanes. Through a survey of 288 residents of the Lower Florida Keys 1 year after Hurricane Irma, this paper describes hurricane impacts on mangroves, beaches, and hardened shorelines. Specifically, we measured perceptions of shoreline damage and shoreline effectiveness for coastal protection at the community- and parcel-levels. At the parcel scale, we also measured performance outcomes through the cost to repair or replace residential shorelines. At both community- and parcel-levels, beaches were perceived as the most damaged shoreline type, followed by mangroves, and then hardened shorelines as the least damaged. Specifically at the parcel-level, repair actions were not taken by many residents with a hardened shoreline (43.2%) due to their shoreline receiving no damage. However, when repair actions were taken, the average cost to repair or replace parcel-level mangroves ($64.33 (USD) ± SE 58.08 per meter) was less than hardened shorelines ($105.14 (USD) ± SE 38.57 per meter). Additionally, 44% of residents reported that no repair or recovery actions were needed after the storm for damaged mangroves, whereas when hardened structures were damaged, many required at least minor repairs (29.5%). Mangroves were also perceived as the most effective shoreline for storm protection (54% very to extremely effective) at the community-level. Our findings indicate local community-level awareness of the storm protective properties mangroves provide but also display a disconnect between perceptions and performance outcomes at parcel scales. Although mangroves cost less to repair and are perceived as the most effective at storm protection, the majority of Florida Keys residents own hardened shorelines. Considering the diverse co-benefits mangroves provide and the local support mangroves have, their conservation and restoration could be well-supported for coastal adaptation.

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Rapid Damage Assessments of Shorelines and Structures in the Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma

Cited by 24 publications

References 31 publications

Engineering With Nature : the role of mangroves in coastal protection

Engineering With Nature : the role of mangroves in coastal protection

Prototype-Scale Physical Model of Wave Attenuation Through a Mangrove Forest of Moderate Cross-Shore Thickness: LiDAR-Based Characterization and Reynolds Scaling for Engineering With Nature

Resident Perceptions and Parcel-Level Performance Outcomes of Mangroves, Beaches, and Hardened Shorelines After Hurricane Irma in the Lower Florida Keys

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