Abstract
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.S. Army Corps of Engineers following Hurricane Sandy. Damage from erosion was evaluated separately from local published erosion rates. Using CERI, two different adaptation strategies were evaluated that included a combination of dune restoration, protective berms, and a tide gate. A total of 151 out of 708 structures were estimated to be protected from inundation and wave action by the combined measures. More importantly, the use of CERI allowed for the assessment of the impact of different adaptation strategies on both individual structures and an entire community in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) environment. This tool shows promise for use by coastal managers to assess damage and mitigate risk to coastal communities.
Highlights
Rhode Island is a coastal community in the northeast United States that is vulnerable to the effects of storm surge, sea level rise, and erosion
Matunuck is a coastal village in South Kingstown, RI that has one of the highest erosion rates in the state, and the structures and infrastructure are at risk from inundation and wave damage from storms
Sea level rise is predicted by NOAA to be as high as 7 feet by 2100
Summary
Rhode Island is a coastal community in the northeast United States that is vulnerable to the effects of storm surge, sea level rise, and erosion. As such, it is representative of many small communities that are facing these challenges without the resources of large urban cities. The Matunuck Beach community (Figure 1) has only one evacuation route, which is a coastal road that runs parallel to the shore and is highly susceptible to flooding. Erosion rates in this area are among the highest in Rhode Island [1], ranging from 0.8 to 3.5 ft/year (Figure 2).
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