VMASC HELPING PROTECT HAMPTON ROADS FROM HURRICANES
It's hurricane season, and East Coast residents, including those in Hampton Roads, are checking weather forecasts and maps produced by the National Hurricane Center and The Weather Channel, keeping a wary eye on the potential for storms to form in the Atlantic.
It only takes one significant storm to place citizens at immediate risk and disrupt life dramatically into the future.
As the lowest-lying major population center on the Eastern Seaboard, Hampton Roads has the potential to suffer devastating damage and loss of life from a severe weather event.
So researchers at VMASC have put their multidisciplinary expertise to work to provide insight that can help anticipate and manage the impact of severe storm events.
The research involves encouraging threatened citizens to evacuate, identifying who might stay behind in the event of a major storm, and addresses how to most efficiently evacuate Hampton Roads and the best way to protect and help vulnerable populations recover after a major event.
This newest VMASC project is known as HEED, the Hurricane Evacuation Encouragement Demonstrator. Barry Ezell, chief scientists at VMASC, received a $50,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) to aid and encourage evacuations.
A major problem for first responders in weather events is citizens who disregard mandatory evacuation orders. HEED is designed to graphically spotlight the risks of staying behind when a hurricane is bearing down. A user of the model enters their ZIP code and the projected category of the storm. HEED instantly produces a graphic representation of the estimated damage to their home.
According to Joshua Behr and Rafael Diaz, research associate professors at VMASC, hurricanes do not affect everyone equally. Some populations and neighborhoods exhibit more vulnerability to injury from storm surge and wind damage because of proximity to rising water, the age of housing stock and roofing materials.
To continue reading, click here.