Description of Methods Used to Create Maps
of Simulated "Katrina-level" Hurricane Event Damage in South
Carolina
Please note that the results presented in these maps are only
one possible group of outcomes taken from an infinite range of
possible hurricane event scenarios. Also, the modeling tools
used to create these maps only estimate losses and risks from wind-based damage, and do not include freshwater
flooding or storm surge effects.
These maps were
created from hurricane wind models developed using
HAZUS-MH MR1 (produced by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency) within
ArcGIS 9.1. A hurricane hazard model was created from storm path and wind
characteristics data found in the
Hurrevac storm advisory for
Hurricane Katrina (2005). The Hurrevac advisory data were transformed into a
hypothetical hurricane event by "stretching out" the
original path points (and associated wind characteristic
measurements) of Hurricane Katrina into a straight-line path and
then projecting this hypothetical storm to make landfall
approximately 10 miles SW of Charleston at the same distance
along its recorded path where Katrina made landfall. Physical,
economic, and social risk/loss estimates were based on this
hypothetical hurricane event were produced using the HAZUS-MH
hurricane wind modeling functionality.
The unit of analysis
for these models was the census tract, and the estimated
probabilities of structural damage found in the last two maps
represent the average damage probability for those facilities
within a given census tract.
These maps are large and may take a
while to load over slow connections.
Selected Maps (in PDF format) from this analysis scenario:
