Typhoon Merbok Coastal Community Impacts
In FY 2023, USGS received disaster supplement funds (Public Law 117-328) to assess increased risks to coastal communities.
Typhoon/coastal community impact: tasks and benefits 2023
As Typhoon Merbok barreled across the Bering Sea and western Alaska, hurricane-strength winds, extreme storm surge, and high waves impacted more than 35 Alaska Native communities along a 1,300-mile stretch of coast. Flooding and winds destroyed or damaged homes, infrastructure, property, utilities, and subsistence fish camps, while eroding large sections of coast.
- Funding will be used to provide coastal mapping products and operational and long-term forecasts to aid communities in assessing increased risks to coastal hazards after Typhoon Merbok and to guide rebuilding efforts. Products will include permanent high-water flood markers, stakeholder co-developed interactive mapping tools of shoreline change and modeled flood and erosion risks, and tools for capturing real-time coastal observations and forecasting of flood hazards.
- The USGS will also work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish 5–6 new real-time water level observing stations to integrate with the National Water Level Observation Network and fill observational data gaps for community risk reduction; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will assume management and maintenance of the newly completed stations.
Related
Alaska Flood Staffs
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses observations of flooding in communities to monitor hazard conditions and support research by the USGS and its partners into a variety of hazard processes in Alaska. Local observations of flooding at a flood staffs are used to document flood elevations, improve flood models, and support floodplain management decisions.
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Software for calculating positional boundary change over time The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions...
Typhoon Merbok Disaster Emergency Recovery Efforts
Extreme storm events, such as Extratropical-Typhoon Merbok that hit the coast of Western Alaska in September 2022, are stark reminders of the devastating impacts coastal storms can have on Alaska Native community’s livelihoods and infrastructure. A chronic lack of environmental monitoring and technical assistance in rural Alaska present major barriers to communities affected by Typhoon Merbok...
Related
Alaska Flood Staffs
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses observations of flooding in communities to monitor hazard conditions and support research by the USGS and its partners into a variety of hazard processes in Alaska. Local observations of flooding at a flood staffs are used to document flood elevations, improve flood models, and support floodplain management decisions.
Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS)
Software for calculating positional boundary change over time The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions...
Typhoon Merbok Disaster Emergency Recovery Efforts
Extreme storm events, such as Extratropical-Typhoon Merbok that hit the coast of Western Alaska in September 2022, are stark reminders of the devastating impacts coastal storms can have on Alaska Native community’s livelihoods and infrastructure. A chronic lack of environmental monitoring and technical assistance in rural Alaska present major barriers to communities affected by Typhoon Merbok...