Compound Flood events pose risk for people living in Coastal areas

That’s a good question. Local governments must assess flood risk, and develop better countermeasures to mitigate the impacts of these events.

One researcher said that no one really had looked at the amount of times that compound flooding took place along the coast of the U.S., where over 50% of the population of the U.S. lives in areas that are densely populated and where that development has steadily risen over the past few decades. When heavy rainfall and storm surge happen nearly simultaneously, the result is called compound flooding. The United States could be dramatically affected in the upcoming years due to sea level rise, storm surge and heavy rainfall.

Using data that reached back to the 1950s and some data from the beginning of the 20 century, the researchers determined that the risk for compound flooding was higher for cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts than for those on the Pacific coast.

In 2012, Isaac raised lake levels six to nine feet, Climate Central noted, flooding New York City with seawater and freshwater.

Changing storm dynamics are causing a greater risk of flooding than they were 50 years ago, particularly on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, putting almost 40 percent of the US population in harm’s way, according to a new study from a Florida university.

So what does this all mean?

A new study, conducted by a joint research team from the University of South Florida College of Marine Science in partnership with the University of Siegen, Germany tried to identify what are the key factors that threaten the U.S. coastal cities.

Coastal cities know how to deal with high tides and the occasional storm surge, but scientists’ models are predicting that the sea will only continue to seem more unpredictable.

Disaster experts used to analyze high rainfall and storm surges when defining flood zones and making preparedness plans, but the findings of the study revealed that this method underestimated the combined risks of high rainfall and storm surges when they occur at the same time, which they refer to as a compound event.

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Climate change has brought about several threats to the safety of the present populace, be it in small or big cities. The severe risk of flood in the US due to climate change asks for rapid action to be taken in order to avoid most dramatic consequences that could lead to complete failure of entire urban infrastructures.