SCIPP hurricane hazard assessment

Since 1980, hurricanes and tropical storms have been responsible for $367.3 billion in damage out of all billion-dollar U.S. climate and weather disasters identified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That is 51% of the total damages incurred by all types of disasters on the billion-dollar list and 28% of the total cost has occurred in the Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program (SCIPP) region. SCIPP is a southern United States focused climate hazards preparedness program that aims to bridge the gap between climate science and local-level climate hazard planning processes. For this project a past assessment of hurricane hazards was completed for the SCIPP region, with the main focus being on the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. A hurricane climatology was compiled in GIS using information from the National Hurricane Center hurricane best track database. Other hurricane hazard assessment information was included with special consideration to what would be meaningful for local stakeholders. The knowledge gained from this information will help local planners and policy makers to be as prepared as possible for a hurricane disaster.