University Park ONLY: Formative Assessment

Exposure Activity: Hurricane Sandy

Objective

The objective of this assessment is for you to quantify physical vulnerabilities in terms of exposure (geologic setting, coastal hazards, bathymetry, climatic setting, etc.) to coastal hazards. We use the now often-discussed Hurricane Sandy as an example.

Assignment:

Hurricane Sandy brought many different hazards (including storm surge, high winds, heavy rain, and snow) to the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Midwest regions of the United States. The following activity considers how hazard intensity interacted with the density and distribution of people and property to shape exposure to these hazards during the storm.

Files

Download the Worksheet (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 758kB Sep7 16)

Download the Rubric (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 136kB Sep7 16)

Submitting Your Assignment

Submit your assignment using the tools in your CMS.

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Figure 10.16: Flooding of the 14th Street Tunnel during Hurricane Sandy disrupted L Train service connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. When assessing exposure, it is important to consider critical infrastructure such as transportation networks.
Credit:By Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of the New York (NYCT_5975)[CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

To explore exposure to these hazards, we will use the "FEMA MOTF-Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis" tool. Within our vulnerability framework, the "impacts" shown by this tool are best seen as measures of exposure to Hurricane Sandy's many hazards (including storm surge, wind, rain, and snow).

After clicking on the "FEMA MOTF-Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis" tool link, your browser window should look like this.

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Figure 10.17: FEMA MOTF – Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis (1).
Map data © OpenStreetMapcontributors, CC-BY-SA | FEMA MOTF http://www.esri.com/legal/copyright-trademarks

Each county on the map is colored to match the overall severity of the combined impacts of storm surge, winds, snow, heavy rain, and landslides on people and property. Areas that experienced the most severe impacts are colored purple; those that experienced the least severe impacts are colored green. Additionally, coastal areas in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island that flooded due to storm surge are shown in dark or light blue. You can zoom in or out using the plus and minus buttons in the upper left. As shown below, data is available for counties from North Carolina, to Ohio, to Maine.

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Figure 10.18: FEMA MOTF – Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis (2).
Map data © OpenStreetMapcontributors, CC-BY-SA | FEMA MOTF http://www.esri.com/legal/copyright-trademarks

Now use the tool to zoom in on the New York City area. Click on Manhattan (New York County). A pop-up will appear:

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Figure 10.19: FEMA MOTF – Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis (3).
Map data © OpenStreetMapcontributors, CC-BY-SA | FEMA MOTF http://www.esri.com/legal/copyright-trademarks

Scroll through the list of data for New York County shown in the pop-up. The popup shows several different measures of the intensity of Sandy's hazards in the county, as well as measures of the exposure of people and property in the county to these hazards. However, for the purposes of this activity, we will be focusing on the measures of storm surge intensity and exposure, as summarized in the table below.

Questions

Answer these questions on your worksheet. When answering, use what you have learned about hurricane hazards in this course, the geography of New York City as shown on the FEMA map, and the information provided in the pop-up window.

1. Using the pop-up for New York County and the above table, consider the exposure of New York County to Sandy's storm surge. Give three examples of pieces of critical infrastructure (police and fire, schools, and utilities) that were exposed to these hazards.
2. How do you think that hazard intensity combined with the location and density of this infrastructure to create this exposure?

Overall, the impact of Hurricane Sandy on New York County was rated as "Very High," shown on the map in purple. Impacts on surrounding areas in Connecticut and New Jersey were also rated as "Very High;" to see these other areas on the map, zoom out as shown below.

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Figure 10.20: FEMA MOTF – Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis (4).
Map data © OpenStreetMapcontributors, CC-BY-SA | FEMA MOTF http://www.esri.com/legal/copyright-trademarks

Adjacent to these "Very High" impact counties are other counties, shown in red, where impacts were only rated as "High." Choose one of these counties and click on it to bring up the pop-up showing the list of intensity and exposure measures for that county. See below for an example showing the pop-up for New London County, Connecticut, a "High" impact county.

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Figure 10.21: FEMA MOTF – Hurricane Sandy Impact Analysis (5).

Map data ? OpenStreetMapcontributors, CC-BY-SA | FEMA MOTF http://www.esri.com/legal/copyright-trademarks

Questions

Answer the questions on your worksheet

1. Compare the exposure to storm surge of your chosen county with the exposure of New York County. What measures of exposure to storm surge are higher in New York County than in your chosen county?
2. Are there any measures of this exposure that are higher in your county than in New York County? If so, which ones?
3. Why do you think that exposure to surge was greater in one county than in the other? In your answer, consider how differences in the intensity of the hazard and the location and density of people and property might help explain why impacts in one county were more severe.