Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), NHERI 2022: Evaluation of Brooklyn Storm Shelter Capabilities to Meet the Needs of Vulnerable Populations

The resiliency of coastal communities will be challenged by the increasing frequency and intensity of hurricanes. New York City faces unique risks from storm surge and flooding because older buildings were not adequately designed for these hazards. Storm surges from hurricanes can cause significant structural damages and displace whole communities. Emergency shelters are critical in protecting and housing displaced populations when these events occur.
This research maps the distribution of social vulnerabilities and storm surge damage throughout Brooklyn, New York. A vulnerability assessment was conducted to determine whether current designated emergency shelters are located in proximity to high concentrations of vulnerable residents. Multiple NOAA storm surge scenarios were used to analyze the varied degrees of physical vulnerability throughout Category 1, 2, 3, and 4 Hurricanes.
The SimCenter’s Regional Resilience Determination Tool (R2D) was used to simulate the hazard scenarios and assess the extent of damage to the building inventory. Physical damage was characterized by five building archetypes that represent common building designs in Brooklyn. Damage was defined as the flooding of dwelling units and critical utilities. These physical indicators of vulnerability are important for determining displacement risks and potential shelter and longer term housing needs. A subset of four social vulnerability indicators were mapped in Google Colab after the damage analysis. These four indicators are demographic characteristics found to increase a household's risk of displacement or reduce their ability to evacuate. A binary scoring system was then developed to highlight areas with high concentrations of social and physical vulnerability. This created a holistic view of hurricane impacts on the affected communities, and showed shelter needs relative to shelter locations.
The results show that scenarios with higher levels of storm surge inundation substantially increase the number of inland neighborhoods with potentially displaced households. Additional investigations show that displacement risks can be mitigated with certain retrofit strategies.