The STORMTOOLS Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI) has historically been used to assess the damage to residential and commercial structures from coastal flooding, including the effects of sea level rise (SLR) in RI. In the present study, CERI was extended to address the impact of flooding for 100 yr storm, including the effects of SLR, to the newly renovated Warren, RI wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF), located on the...

Under the STORMTOOLS initiative, maps of the impact of sea level rise (SLR) (0 to 12 ft), nuisance flooding (1–10 yr), 25, 50, and 100 yr storms, and hindcasts of the four top ranked tropical storms have been developed for the coastal waters of Rhode Island (RI). Estimates of the design elevations, expressed in terms of the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) and thus incorporating surge and associated wave conditions, have also been d...

Trajectory and fate modeling of the oil released during the Deepwater Horizon blowout was performed for April to September of 2010 using a variety of input data sets, including combinations of seven hydrodynamic and four wind models, to determine the inputs leading to the best agreement with observations and to evaluate their reliability for quantifying exposure of marine resources to floating and subsurface oil. Remote sensin...

STORMTOOLS coastal environmental risk index (CERI) was applied to communities located along the southern coast of Rhode Island (RI) to determine the risk to structures located in the flood plain. CERI uses estimates of the base flood elevation (BFE), explicitly including the effects of sea level rise (SLR); details on the structure types, from the E911 emergency data base/parcel data, and associated first floor elevation (FFE)...

Many coastal communities in the US use base flood elevation (BFE) maps for the 100-year return period, specified on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), to design structures and infrastructure. The FIRMs are increasingly known to have serious problems in accurately specifying the risk coastal communities face, as most recently evidenced during hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017 and Flor...

STORMTOOLS Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI) predicts the coastal flooding damage to individual structures using coastal flooding levels, including the effects of sea level rise (SLR), provided in terms of the base flood elevation (BFE), specifications of the structure of interest (type and first floor elevation) and the associated damage functions from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE), North Atlantic Coast Compre...

Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) are developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide guidance in establishing the risk to structures and infrastructure from storm surge sand associated waves in the coastal zone. The maps are used by state agencies and municipalities to help guide coastal planning and establish the minimum elevation and construction standards for new or substantially improved structures....

Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) are developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide guidance in establishing the risk to structures and infrastructure in the coastal zone from storm surge and coincidental waves. The maps are used by state agencies and municipalities to help guide coastal planning and establish the minimum elevation standard for new or substantially improved structures. A summary of the...

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of shoreline retreat and dune erosion on coastal flooding in a case study located in the southern coast of Rhode Island, USA. Using an extensive dataset collected during 2011, an ADCIRC model was developed to simulate the propagation of storm surge in the coastal areas, including coastal inlets and ponds. A simplified methodology, based on the geological assessment of histor...

This paper presents an evaluation of inundation, erosion, and wave damage for a coastal community in Rhode Island, USA. A methodology called the Coastal Environmental Risk Index (CERI) was used that incorporates levels of inundation including sea level rise, wave heights using STWAVE, and detailed information about individual structures from an E911 database. This information was input into damage functions developed by the U....

One of the challenges facing coastal zone managers and municipal planners is the development of an objective, quantitative assessment of the risk to structures, infrastructure, and public safety that coastal communities face from storm surge in the presence of changing climatic conditions, particularly sea level rise and coastal erosion. Here we use state of the art modeling tool (ADCIRC and STWAVE) to predict storm surge and...