RAPID: Assessment of Damage and Recovery of Power and Road Infrastructures in Western Alaska after Ex-Typhoon Merbok

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Ex-typhoon Merbok slammed Western Alaska in September 2022, leading to widespread damage and disruption in numerous coastal communities. The large geographic coverage, unique co-occurrence of extreme flood and wind events, and extremeness of damage caused by this ex-typhoon have provided an opportunity to perform reconnaissance activities and determine the best pathways to enhance the resilience of communities to similar extreme events in the future. In particular, investigations in this context help with the documentation of the effects of a range of storm-driven hazards in rural communities that had rarely experienced events of this magnitude in the past. The widespread damage to the electric power network impaired the daily life of the rural communities that were not prepared for such events. In parallel, the emergency and recovery efforts were delayed due to access issues originating from damage to several roads and bridges. Thus, the test-bed afforded by the September 2022 storm in Western Alaska is expected to allow a detailed investigation of a range of research questions categorized based on the time of action associated with each. This project will enable the performance assessment of physical components of civil infrastructures, the development of data-assisted empirical relationships that capture the damageability of constructed facilities, and the identification of post-disaster recovery actions that effectively contribute to the resiliency of the impacted communities in rural regions. For this purpose, perishable damage data and recovery activities will be collected from the field for systematic studies toward enhancing resilience and establishing effective mitigation strategies for vulnerable communities. Such original information will continue to advance resilient practices in coastal regions to further reduce loss of life and property. The planned investigations will also contribute to transforming the capabilities of owners, planners, and policymakers to characterize resilience under various extreme event scenarios and determine optimal adaptation and mitigation strategies. The educational goal of this project is to train a future generation of diverse engineers who can produce innovative solutions to maintain civil infrastructures in service in the face of calamities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.