Assessing vulnerability through storm transposition

We have reconstructed the 2008 storm that caused catastrophic damage across parts of south-central Iowa and Wisconsin.  We are currently using an existing hydrodynamic model of the Yahara Lakes (http://infosyahara.org/) to estimate the extent of damage that would have occurred had the storm been centered over the lakes.  Two cohorts of managers and decision-makers are participating in this exercise.  The first includes the public officials with oversight of public works and management functions who influence infrastructure and facility siting decisions.  To date this group has been uniformly enthusiastic about the utility of the approach.  The second group will comprise water resource managers in other communities outside of the demonstration area.  This work is currently supported by a NOAA grant. NECSC support will enable us to extend the use of the reconstructed storm to additional applications.  These will focus on river flooding and urban stormwater flooding.  As in the Yahara River study, we will involve managers and decision makers from the beginning of each application. 

 

 

Application of storm transposition can identify vulnerabilities to extreme storm events, and hence to climate change.  The specific findings of this study will inform local decisions, as well as demonstrate the efficacy of the storm transposition method.  Nick Hayden is using storm transposition to evaluate the effectiveness of state and local stormwater ordinances for preventing increases in storm runoff volumes resulting from urban and suburban development. Dane County engineers are using our transposition results to explore operating policies for the control structures on the upper lakein the Yahara chain of lakes.