“Hurricane Ike was the third-worst hurricane in U.S. history in terms of property damage,” declares professor Phil Bedient, director of the SSPEED (Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters) Center at Rice University. “Ike was a $32 billion storm. It had a huge impact on the fabric of the community.” Under the direction of Bedient and the SSPEED Center, a stellar group of scientists, architects, engineers, hydrologists, land managers, transportation experts and emergency response teams is studying Hurricane Ike, generating information and creating tools that will protect lives and property the next time a severe storm hits the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Coastal storm surge forecasting drives a large part of the project.

“A surge is basically a huge wind-driven wave,” explains Bedient. “It doesn’t always come in as a single wave, but it did during Ike. It came in over a period of 10 to 30 hours and caused massive damage, as did the wind. Everything the surge touched, it took out.” Newscasts offer predictions about the track of a storm and the force of its winds, but, Bedient says, “The information our research generates will help predict surges and their impact, which drives evacuation plans, what’s built along the coast and what’s done to protect infrastructure.” The SSPEED Center will provide customized predictions to government officials and the public about the size and the path of a surge, and offer timely and informed recommendations about evacuation patterns, routes open to travel and actions to take to protect vulnerable installations such as the Texas Medical Center and the Houston Ship Channel.

The research will also point the way to managing and developing land with the reality of storm surges in mind. “Somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 people between now and 2035 will move into surge zone areas,” says Bedient. Building codes, structural protection against hurricanes and flood plain maps do not currently include an accurate treatment of storm surge flooding. In addition to predicting surges, the research will provide suggestions about safely managing and developing coastal areas such as Bolivar peninsula.

Bedient says, “Our research will help us live better within and around storm events. We will have a reliable storm surge and flood prediction tool; we’ll know more about our infrastructure, and how and when to evacuate; and we’ll better understand the impact of storms and surges, how to harden the coast and how to make it resilient.”