HURRICANE STORM SURGE RESEARCH CIS RECORD ONLY: HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-EIGHTH CONGRESS 40-048 Ο U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1984 CONTENTS Dr. Neil L. Frank, Director, National Hurricane Center, National Weath- er Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Article: "Slosh-A Hurricane Storm Surge Forecast Model", by Chester P. Jelesnianski, Jye Chen, Wilson A. Shaffer, and Amikan J. Gilad (III) L HURRICANE STORM SURGE RESEARCH THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1984 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:44 a.m., in room 2318, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. James H. Scheuer (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Scheuer, Andrews, Valentine, McGrath, and Lewis. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES H. SCHEUER, A U.S. REP- Mr. SCHEUER. The Subcommittee on Natural Resources, Agriculture Research and Environment will come to order. Today the subcommittee will examine one of nature's most destructive manifestations, the hurricane. Hurricanes are known for their devastating winds and torrential rains. But the most deadly hurricane force is neither of these. The most deadly hurricane force is the storm surge, an enormous dome of water, 50 miles across and up to 25 feet high, which is driven in front of the hurricane as it approaches land. It can sweep across barrier islands and engulf low-lying coastal areas for miles and miles around. It was a storm surge that was the cause of our greatest hurricane disaster in our history, the Galveston storm of 1900, in which 6,000 people perished. In 1935, an 18-foot storm surge swept over the Florida Keys resulting in 500 fatalities. Using a computer simulation of storm surge flooding developed by the National Weather Service, local officials in the Gulf Coast States have recently discovered that the time needed to evacuate their communities far exceeds the 12-hour hurricane warning which is the most that the National Weather Service can now provide under current technology. Areas that have been devastated in the past have alarmingly long evacuation times. For example, evacuating Galveston Island could take 26 to 42 hours. It would take 43 hours to evacuate the Florida Keys. So it is appropriate that the focus of evacuation studies has been on the Gulf Coast States, and also on the keys. It's increasingly clear that many Mid- and North-Atlantic coastal areas are also at risk. (1) ti |