RAPID/Collaborative Research: Collection of Perishable Hurricane Sandy Data on Weather-Related Damage to Urban Power and Transit Infrastructure

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This Rapid Response Research Grant (RAPID) will collect perishable damage data caused by Hurricane Sandy that made landfall on October 29, 2012. It was a very large storm (almost 800 miles in diameter according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) that affected large areas of coastlines of New York (Long Island and New York Metropolitan area) and New Jersey. The storm was judged to be Category 1 based on its wind speed. However, because of its size and coinciding with high lunar tide, it generated high storm surge. The New York Metropolitan area sustained severe damage to coastal structures due to surge and wave actions. Most of the New York Metropolitan area lost electrical power and the transportation system became inoperable because of flooding of tunnels and loss of power. The project will collect data on weather, storm surge and floods, power outage, transit stoppage, and interdependencies of infrastructures in New York Metropolitan area.The project will identify, collect and disseminate weather-related hazard and damage data induced by Hurricane Sandy for power and transit infrastructure in New York Metropolitan area. The weather data will include measurements of storm surge, flooding, rainfall and wind speeds. The spatial extent of the data collection will be the transit region of New York Metropolitan area and the service areas of the power delivery systems responsible for the transit networks. The weather and damage data will be geo-coded and timelines at regular intervals over the duration of infrastructure recovery will be established. The research team will apply various techniques for data collection including ground-based observations, satellite data, and aerial and water-based survey maps. Interdependencies between transit and power outages will be identified in the database. The resulting database will enhance the research infrastructure of the engineering and urban planning communities in the U.S.