Assessment of Coastal Hazards in Puerto Rico

During Hurricanes Irma and Maria, much of Puerto Rico experienced significant impacts to beaches, dunes and coral reefs. Extensive erosion and coral losses result in increased immediate and long-term hazards to shorelines, including some densely populated regions. This puts critical infrastructure at risk to future flooding and erosion and potentially leading to economic losses. The USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (CMHRP) is assessing impacts of coastal erosion and dune elevation changes along the coastline of Puerto Rico and updating digital elevation models of sandy shoreline areas of Puerto Rico. The elevation features will be integrated into models to provide updated estimates of the potential for beach erosion, dune erosion, and dune overtopping during hurricane landfall - both real-time and scenario-based - and operationally for all weather conditions. Updated shoreline positions will be used to compute new rates of shoreline change and identify erosion hot spots. 

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